Maybe an average player. Chess is one of the best games for promoting inner peace. I love the quiet.

In the history of chess in the last two hundred years, certain players stand out. For example, Steinitz, Alekhine and Fischer, whose lives cover the years 1836-2008.

As you can see by the following timeline, Alekhine's life overlaps slightly with the other two:

Steinitz 5/14/1836 to 8/12/1900
Alekhine 10/31/1892 to 3/24/1946
Fischer 3/9/1943 to 1/17/2008

The list of famous (or not so famous players, is an ongoing project, I have tried to include as many of the great players as possible, but I know that many are not on my list yet, and if you see someone that needs to be added, say so on my forum below and I will add them even though, perhaps, this list is already long enough.

I add players that I like as well as the notable ones, there are many child prodigies emerging who have not yet become a "household word").

I now have over 100 players listed, and I am sure there are hundreds more that I could include.

Here are some famous players:

Zhansaya Abdumalik 2007 to 2016 FIDE=2381

Michael Adams

Espen Agdestein

Simen Agdestein

Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian

Alexander Alekhine 1903 to 1946

Viswanathan Anand 1984 to 2016 FIDE=2770

Adolf Anderssen

Ulf Andersson 1967 to 2014 FIDE=2516

Levon Aronian 1993 to 2016 FIDE=2784

Suat Atalik

Evgeny Ilgizovich Bareev

Alexander Beliavsky 1967 to 2016 FIDE=2624

Emanuel Berg

Ossip Bernstein

Istvan Bilek

Sidney Norman Bernstein 1926 to 1987 (player of the day 7/13/16)

Henry Edward Bird 1849 to 1903 (player of the day 7/14/16)

Joseph Henry Blackburne 1861 to 1916

Milko Bobotsov

Viktor Antonovich Bologan

Mikhail Botvinnik

David Bronstein 1938 to 1997 FIDE=2432

Jose Raul Capablanca 1893 to 1941

Magnus Carlsen 1999 to 2016 FIDE=2851

Pontus Carlsson

Fabiano Caruana

Li Chao

Irving Chernev 1921 to 1944

Mikhail Chigorin 1874 to 1907

Alexey Dreev

Pavel Eljanov

Max Euwe

Robert James Fischer 1953 to 1992 FIDE=2780

Lubomir Ftacnik

Vugar Gashimov

Boris Gelfand 1982 to 2016 FIDE=2777

Efim Geller 1946 to 1995

Anish Giri 2005 to 2016 FIDE=2790

Svetozar Gligoric 1939 to 2007 FIDE=2447

Stephen Gordon

Alexander Grischuk 1992 to 2016 FIDE=2752

Jon Ludvig Hammer 2000 to 2016 FIDE=2689

Wang Hao

Pentala Harikrishna

Vlastimil Hort 1959 to 2012 FIDE=2428

Vassily Ivanchuk

Borislav Ivkov 1948 to 2013 FIDE=2402

Dmitry Jakovenko

Vlastimil Jansa

Gawain Jones

Gata Kamsky

Anatoly Karpov 1961 to 2015 FIDE=2628

Sergey Karjakin 2000 to 2016 FIDE=2779

Garry Kasparov 1973 to 2016 FIDE=2812

Raymond Keene

Paul Keres

Alexander Khalifman

Ratmir Kholmov 1946 to 2005 FIDE=2432

Viktor Korchnoi 1945 to 2015 FIDE=2499

Nadezhda Kosintseva

Vladimir Kramnik 1984 to 2016 FIDE=2801

Emanuel Lasker 1889 to 1940

Bent Larsen 1948 to 2008 FIDE=2415

Peter Leko 1989 to 2015 FIDE=2705

Ding Liren

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov

Turkan Mamedjarova

Zeinab Mamedjarova

Frank James Marshall 1893 to 1944

Luke McShane

Anthony Miles 1967 to 2001 FIDE=2669

Alexander Morozevich 1990 to 2016 FIDE=2683

Paul Morphy 1848 to 1869

Sergei Movsesian

Miguel Najdorf 1926 to 1996

Hikaru Nakamura 1995 to 2016 FIDE=2787

David Navara

Ian Nepomniachtchi

Aron Nimzowitsch

John Nunn

Alexander Onischuk

Louis Paulsen 1857 to 1889

Leinier Dominguez Perez

Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian 1942 to 1983 FIDE=2645

François André Philidor

Harry Nelson Pillsbury 1890 to 1905

Judit Polgar 1984 to 2014 FIDE=2675

Zsofia Polgar 1982 to 2002 FIDE=2450

Zsuzsa Polgar 1977 to 2006 FIDE=2577

Lajos Portisch

Omar Almeida Quintana

Richard Rapport

Teimour Radjabov

Richard Reti

Samuel Reshevsky

Ray Robson

Oleg Romanishin

Akiba Rubinstein

Samuel Sevian

Alexey Shirov