Answers.Body: <h3>Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi</h3>
  <p>As a very 'promising' candidate, take <strong>Nepo</strong>: He did not only start early to be the &quot;eternal runner-up&quot; (e.g. in the prestigeous 2007 Tata Steel Tournament), he came second at least 7 times in world championship matches / tournaments, including:</p>
  <ul>
  <li>World Rapid Championship 2013</li>
  <li>World Blitz Championship 2014</li>
  <li>World Rapid Championship 2015</li>
  <li>World Chess Championship 2021</li>
  <li>World Rapid Championship 2021</li>
  <li>Chess960 Championship 2022</li>
  <li>World Chess Championship 2023</li>
  </ul>
  <p>Always coming very close to the title, that slipped away from him in the last moments (often in the tie-breaks or Armageddon).
  Other players like Anand also had many runner-up placements, but he doesn't qualify, as he eventually became the 15th World Chess Champion.</p>
  <p>Especially the World Chess Championship 2023 is bitter for him. He won the last 2 candidate tournaments (the hardest tournament in chess) with a superb performance (the best ever achieved) with even a round to spare in <strong>both</strong> tournaments.
  Then he loses to the runner-up of the 2022 candidates in the &quot;rapid lottery&quot; after having had great chances to win the title in the Classical section of the championship.
  And this runner-up was the most unlikely of all possible opponents. Not even qualified for the candidates, who got selected by FIDE as a wild card following the disqualification of GM Karjakin due to his support of Russian aggression against Ukraine. In a sense, GM Ding Liren might be the luckiest chess player of all time, because Carlsen decided not to defend his title, and the second place in the candidates sufficed for playing the match.
  He then barely managed to become second place, after Nakamura lost a game that he only needed to draw in order to play.
  None of this, war in Ukraine, Karjakin's reactions, FIDE's reactions, Carlsen's decision, Nakamura's performance etc. was in the hands of either player.</p>
  <p>Nepo's peak rank was 2, with a peak rating of 2795.
  It is likely that Carlsen will be much more famous in the future than him, just as he is now.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-12-11T15:06:06.643Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-12-11T15:24:15.710Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2023-12-11T15:24:15.710Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Hauptideal
Body: <p>I'm interested in candidates for a &quot;most unfortunate chess player award&quot;.</p>
  <p>A player qualifies, if</p>
  <ul>
  <li>he has had exceptionally bad luck (especially chess-related (e.g. coming second, losing due to circumstances, not being able to participate in competitions, lacking funds, ...), but private bad luck would also qualify)</li>
  <li>never won (one of) the most significant titles / tournaments of his era (that would have him widely remembered)</li>
  <li>was a very strong player (e.g. top 20 of his time)</li>
  <li>is (now) significantly less famous than the best-known player(s) of his time</li>
  </ul>
  <p>This can be contemporary players, but even historic players starting from the 1500s.</p>
  <p>I'm hoping for candidates ranging from early italian/spanish masters to today.
  (Who was the second-best during Philidor's time, for example; What about the time of Staunton, Morphy, Steinitz? During the reign of Lasker (Schlechter?!). What about Keres, Korchnoi, Bronstein, ...?</p>
  <p>Please present qualified candidates.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-12-11T15:07:58.553Z
Comments.Text: Reminder, this is not a discussion site. Opinion based questions are not welcome.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-12-11T15:10:38.540Z
Comments.Text: This can be read as a reference request. It is very possible to quantify bad luck, e.g. based on number of second placements, measurable chess strenghts based on games or Elo, fame based on number of mentions in books, named variations in openings etc. (but we can also modify the question to better reflect this, if needed)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Hauptideal
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-12-11T20:37:09.523Z
Comments.Text: Robert Hübner lost his Candidates match by roulette, Von Bardeleben got posterity for a game he lost, Bronstein, Korchnoi, Nepo and Schlechter were leading in WCC, Richard Reti, Vugar Gashimov and Lembit Oll had a terrible fate... Very hard to find a non-opinion-based criterion to pick one.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Tags: <history><famous-players><reference-request>
Title: Who is the most unfortunate player in chess history?
ThreadText: # Who is the most unfortunate player in chess history?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-12-11)
  
  I'm interested in candidates for a "most unfortunate chess player award".
  
  A player qualifies, if
  
  * he has had exceptionally bad luck (especially chess-related (e.g. coming second, losing due to circumstances, not being able to participate in competitions, lacking funds, ...), but private bad luck would also qualify)
  * never won (one of) the most significant titles / tournaments of his era (that would have him widely remembered)
  * was a very strong player (e.g. top 20 of his time)
  * is (now) significantly less famous than the best-known player(s) of his time
  
  This can be contemporary players, but even historic players starting from the 1500s.
  
  I'm hoping for candidates ranging from early italian/spanish masters to today.
  (Who was the second-best during Philidor's time, for example; What about the time of Staunton, Morphy, Steinitz? During the reign of Lasker (Schlechter?!). What about Keres, Korchnoi, Bronstein, ...?
  
  Please present qualified candidates.
  
  **Tags:** history, famous-players, reference-request
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Reminder, this is not a discussion site. Opinion based questions are not welcome.  
  > **username_0**: This can be read as a reference request. It is very possible to quantify bad luck, e.g. based on number of second placements, measurable chess strenghts based on games or Elo, fame based on number of mentions in books, named variations in openings etc. (but we can also modify the question to better reflect this, if needed)  
  > **username_2**: Robert Hübner lost his Candidates match by roulette, Von Bardeleben got posterity for a game he lost, Bronstein, Korchnoi, Nepo and Schlechter were leading in WCC, Richard Reti, Vugar Gashimov and Lembit Oll had a terrible fate... Very hard to find a non-opinion-based criterion to pick one.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2023-12-11. Score: 1
  
  ### Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi
  
  As a very 'promising' candidate, take **Nepo**: He did not only start early to be the "eternal runner-up" (e.g. in the prestigeous 2007 Tata Steel Tournament), he came second at least 7 times in world championship matches / tournaments, including:
  
  * World Rapid Championship 2013
  * World Blitz Championship 2014
  * World Rapid Championship 2015
  * World Chess Championship 2021
  * World Rapid Championship 2021
  * Chess960 Championship 2022
  * World Chess Championship 2023
  
  Always coming very close to the title, that slipped away from him in the last moments (often in the tie-breaks or Armageddon).
  Other players like Anand also had many runner-up placements, but he doesn't qualify, as he eventually became the 15th World Chess Champion.
  
  Especially the World Chess Championship 2023 is bitter for him. He won the last 2 candidate tournaments (the hardest tournament in chess) with a superb performance (the best ever achieved) with even a round to spare in **both** tournaments.
  Then he loses to the runner-up of the 2022 candidates in the "rapid lottery" after having had great chances to win the title in the Classical section of the championship.
  And this runner-up was the most unlikely of all possible opponents. Not even qualified for the candidates, who got selected by FIDE as a wild card following the disqualification of GM Karjakin due to his support of Russian aggression against Ukraine. In a sense, GM Ding Liren might be the luckiest chess player of all time, because Carlsen decided not to defend his title, and the second place in the candidates sufficed for playing the match.
  He then barely managed to become second place, after Nakamura lost a game that he only needed to draw in order to play.
  None of this, war in Ukraine, Karjakin's reactions, FIDE's reactions, Carlsen's decision, Nakamura's performance etc. was in the hands of either player.
  
  Nepo's peak rank was 2, with a peak rating of 2795.
  It is likely that Carlsen will be much more famous in the future than him, just as he is now.
  
  
  ---
  
  