Yuri Averbakh, Russian GM, author, endgame expert and currently the world’s oldest living GM at 93 (!), revealed in a 1997 interview in New in Chess that he placed chess players into 6 categories.

Here they are with his description of each and the names of some famous examples (as given by Yuri).

1. The Killers – “players who are, figuratively speaking, trying to kill their opponent. As a rule, the main definition of a killer is a man who was raised without a father.”
   1. Fischer
   2. Botvinnik
   3. Korchnoi
2. The Fighters – “They try to win with all means, but it’s not necessary to kill. ”
   1. Kasparov
   2. Bronstein (“He tries to pose as an artist. Maybe he has something of the artist but his main strength is that of the fighter.”)
3. The Sportsmen – “For them chess is a sport like any other kind of sport. They are normal people, but when they play it is for them just like any other sport.”
   1. Spassky
   2. Keres
   3. Capablanca
4. The Gamblers – “He wants to play any game.”
   1. Karpov
5. The Artist – “For whom not only the result is important.”
   1. Simagin
   2. Rossolimo
   3. Zukertort
6. The Expolorer
   1. Averbakh
   2. Nimzowitsch
   3. Rubinstein
   4. Fine

” Of course, not everyone fits just in one category. For instance, Tal had something of both the fighter and the artist. Karpov and Kasparov also have some killer characteristics, but not as strongly as Botvinnik.”