Best 681 quotes in «chess quotes» category

My opponent is Short and the match will be short.

My opponent left a glass of whisky 'en prise' and I took it 'en passant'.

My sister bought me a set at a candy store and taught me the moves.

My studies with Botvinnik brought me immense benefit, particularly the homework assignments which forced me to refer to chess books and to work independently.

My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian

Never copy yourself, always copy someone else.

Never in the history of chess have so many moves been repeated so often so quickly by so many people who didn't really understand them.

Nowadays games immediately appear on the Internet and thus the life of novelties is measured in hours. Modern professionals do not have the right to be forgetful - it is 'life threatening'.

No fool can play chess, and only fools do.

No, no, it is obvious that the ECU should act as a close alliance for the benefit of chess.

No other great master has been so misunderstood by the vast majority of chess amateurs and even by many masters, as has Emanuel Lasker.

Normally we'd draw the curtain here, but I just wanted to see what he'd play next.

Nowadays there is more dynamism in chess, modern players like to take the initiative. Usually they are poor defenders though.

Nowadays, when you're not a grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it

Ninety percent of the book variations have no great value, because either they contain mistakes or they are based on fallacious assumptions; just forget about the openings and spend all that time on the endings.

No Chess Grandmaster is normal; they only differ in the extent of their madness

No one has ever played these endgames with such elegant ease as Capablanca.

Not winning a tournament is not an option for me, unless it's no longer theoretically possible - then of course winning becomes impossible. But up to that point, not winning is just not an option.

Nowadays tournaments are for nurseries. Look at those kiddies.

Now I have the pawn and the compensation.

Of chess it has often been said that life is not long enough for it - but that is the fault of life, not chess.

Once we have chosen the right formation in the centre we have created opportunities for our pieces and laid the foundation of subsequent victory.

Often, in the Ruy Lopez, one must be patient, wait and carry on a lengthy and wearisome struggle.

Once I asked Teichman what he thought of Bird's chess: "Same as his health," he replied, "always alternating between being dangerously ill and dangerously well.

One charming characteristic of many flank attacks I could mention is that they do not very often lead to simplification: if the attack is parried, there usually are still opportunities left for initiating action in another sector.

One can say that in the last decades chess has become more of a sport than of a science. I see it from an artistic point of view.

One does not succeed by sticking to convention.

One can imagine a world without essays. It would be a little poorer, of course, like a world without chess, but one could live in it.

One does not succeed by sticking to convention. When your opponent can easily anticipate every move you make, your strategy deteriorates and becomes commoditized.

One of these modest little moves may be more embarrassing to your opponent than the biggest threat

Only a good bishop can be sacrificed, a bad bishop can only be lost.

Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack

Only play into a variation in which your opponent is strong if you have your own personal novelty ready!

Patience is the most valuable trait of the endgame player.

On the whole, the life of a chess professional is not as easy as it appears at first sight. One needs to devote some ten hours a day to chess and to everything connected with it - physical and psycholgical preparation.

Our efforts in chess attain only a hundredth of one percent of their rightful result... Our education, in all domains of endeavour, is frightfully wasteful of time and values.

Pawn endings are to Chess what putting is to golf

Pawns are born free, yet they are everywhere in chains

Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.

People have been playing against me below their strength for fifteen years.

Playing black, I put great stake in the Ruy Lopez: I liked it, feel it, and understand it; in matches with Hjartarson and Timman it served me well. - on preparing for World Championship versus Garry Kasparov

Play on both sides of the board is my favourite strategy.

Playing without a concurrent critical review of one's skills will simply get you nowhere.

Politics in Iran is not played like American football. It's played like chess. There are multiple moves. You're jumping ahead. And a lot of it is very subtle, and it catches you by surprise later on. So I don't want to go overboard on this.

Psychologically, you have to have confidence in yourself and this confidence should be based on fact.

Poor Capablanca! Thou wert a brilliant technician, but no philosopher. Thou wert not capable of believing that in chess, another style could be victorious than the absolutely correct one.

Psychology is the most important factor in chess.

Repeating moves in an ending can be very useful. Apart from the obvious gain of time on the clock one notices that the side with the advantage gains psychological benefit.

Ridicule can do much, for instance embitter the existence of young talents.

Since your mental state can have such dramatic effects on your body, obviously your physical condition can affect your mental well-being. It follows that regular physical conditioning should be part of your overall chess training.