The player that closest comes to my style of play is a young Anatoly Karpov (hence the user name). I tend to play in a universal, positional style but I will never object to a tactical slugfest. Openings: There are very few openings I have not outed in a tournament game (including the Chigorin), but I hold a special affinity for both sides of the Gruenfeld, Queen's Indian, Ruy Lopez, and Semi-Slav. I prefer openings with the opportunity for both positional and attacking chances.
Middlegame: I have no intention for my opponent to see an endgame, and there a lot of ways to make that happen. I prefer a positional grind, but I'll never object to attacking chances.
Endgame: I have a bad tendency (akin to Fischer) to overly seek clarity and simplicity in the endgame, which often leads to me eschewing the best moves.
I do not play competitive chess anymore since I am an attorney, but I try to keep up on all the tournaments and the latest results. I have found however, that playing Guess-the-Move chess is almost as satisfying as playing a game myself (hence the collections) and is far less time consuming. In the long list of priorities I have to juggle each day, its a great solution to my chess addiction.
The Top-20 Chessplayers of All-Time (IMO):
1) Garry Kasparov
2) Emanuel Lasker
3) Anatoly Karpov
4) Bobby Fischer
5) Jose Capablanca
6) Alexander Alekhine
7) Mikhail Botvinnik
8) Viswanathan Anand
9) Mikhail Tal
10) Viktor Korchnoi
11) Paul Keres
12) Harry Pillsbury
13) Vladamir Kramnik
14) Vassily Smyslov
15) Akiba Rubinstein
16) Siegbert Tarrasch
17) Tigran Petrosian
18) Boris Spassky
19) Samuel Reshevsky
20) Johannes Zukertort
Kibitzing
I find a lot of irony that in a discussion forum expressly premised on the non-use of computers the first advertisement I see is for Deep Fritz. 14 days before White's first move. One wonders how much ...