Chess Quotes

Like dogs who sniff each other when meeting, chess players have a ritual at first acquaintance: they sit down to play speed chess.

I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up.

The biggest problem I see among people who want to excel in chess – and in business and in life in general – is not trusting their instincts enough.

Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory.

I am the best player in the world, and I am here to prove it.

Concentrate on material gains. Whatever your opponent gives you take, unless you see a good reason not to.

It is rightly said that the most difficult thing in chess is winning a won position

In chess, there is only one mistake: over-estimation of your opponent. All else is either bad luck or weakness.

Thank you, darling, for learning to play chess. It is an absolute necessity for any well organized family. (in a letter to his wife)

I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings

Even the laziest King flees wildly in the face of a double check!

I have not given any drawn or lost games, because I thought them inadequate to the purpose of the book.

It is said that an ounce of common sense can outweigh a ton of 'variations'.

A game of chess is not an examination of knowledge; it is a battle of nerves.

Chess is, above all, a fight.

A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it

Once you're a chess player, you spend a lot of time thinking about the game and you can't get it completely out of your head.

In my country, at that time, being a champion of chess was like being a King. At that time I was a King and when you are King you feel a lot of responsibility, but there is nobody there to help you.

The power of hanging Pawns is based precisely in their Mobility, in their Ability to create acute situations instantly.

It is not enough to be a good player... you must also play well

Along with my retirement from chess analytical work seems to have gone too.

The chess-board is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us.

Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack

I add status to any tournament I attend.

Modern Chess is too much concerned with things like Pawn structure. Forget it, Checkmate ends the game

Nowadays the dynamic element is more important in chess - players more often sacrifice material to obtain dynamic compensation.

I'd rather have a Pawn than a finger

It is dangerous to maintain equality at the cost of placing the pieces passively.

In chess, bigamy is acceptable but monarchy is absolute.

A chess game, after all, is a fight in which all possible factors must be made use of, and in which a knowledge of the opponent's good and bad qualities is of the greatest importance.

Some part of a mistake is always correct

Chess is imagination.

Don't worry kids, you'll find work. After all, my machine will need strong chess player-programmers. You will be the first.

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

The King is a fighting piece. Use it!

It often happens that a player is so fond of his advantageous position that he is reluctant to transpose to a winning endgame.

I honestly don't read that much. Obviously I read chess books - in terms of favorites, Kasparov's 'My Great Predecessors' is pretty good.

I'll always take Scrabble and chess if I'm going filming. But I do have the Scrabble dictionary, which can be infuriating for other players.

Contrary to many young Colleagues, I do believe that it makes sense to study the Classics.

Chess is mental torture.

The strategies of offense and defense are very similar between chess and football. Chess really brought closeness to the team back in those days.

Chess, like mathematics and music, is a nursery for child prodigies.

Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders.

Your body has to be in top condition. Your Chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate body from mind

Chess is a terrible game. If you have no center, your opponent has a freer position. If you do have a center, then you really have something to worry about!

Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.

I get more upset at losing at other things than chess. I always get upset when I lose at Monopoly.

One does not succeed by sticking to convention.

Chess is the touchstone of intellect.

No matter what the name, we're all the same pieces in one big chess game.