Chess Quotes - Page 8

• Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack

  Wilhelm Steinitz

  Player, Strategy, Initiative

  24 Copy quote

• The only positive contribution to chess from Fischer in the last 20 years.

  Viktor Korchnoi

  Time, Years, Lasts

  59 Copy quote

• After black's reply to 1.e4 with 1..e5, leaves him always trying to get into the game

  Howard Staunton

  Games, Chess Game, Always Trying

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• Though I would have liked my chances in a rematch in 1998 if I were better prepared, it was clear then that computer superiority over humans in chess had always been just a matter of time.

  Garry Kasparov

  Matter, Chance, Computer

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• Many Chess players were surprised when after the game, Fischer quietly explained: 'I had already analyzed this possibility' in a position which I thought was not possible to foresee from the opening

  Mikhail Tal

  Player, Games, Possibility

  85 Copy quote

• Chess is a curse upon a man.

  H. G. Wells

  Men, Curse

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• She hung up and I set out the chess board. I filled a pipe, paraded the chessmen and inspected them for French shaves and loose buttons, and played a championship tournament game between Gortchakoff and Meninkin, seventy-two moves to a draw, a prize specimen of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, a battle without armour, a war without blood, and as elaborate a waste of human intelligence as you could find anywhere outside an advertising agency.

  Raymond Chandler

  War, Moving, Agency

  Raymond Chandler (2002). “The Long Goodbye: A Novel”, p.174, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

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• Loss generally occurs when a player overrates his advantage or for other reasons seeks to derive from a minute advantage a great return such as a forced win.

  Emanuel Lasker

  Loss, Winning, Player

  Emanuel Lasker (2013). “Lasker's Manual of Chess”, p.560, SCB Distributors

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• The chess player who develops the ability to play two dozen boards at a time will benefit from learning to compress his or her analysis into less time.

  Marilyn vos Savant

  Player, Two, Boards

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• When asked, -How is that you pick better moves than your opponents?, I responded: I'm very glad you asked me that, because, as it happens, there is a very simple answer. I think up my own moves, and I make my opponent think up his

  Alexander Alekhine

  Moving, Simple, Thinking

  41 Copy quote

• Endings of one rook and pawns are about the most common sort of endings arising on the chess board. Yet though they do occur so often, few have mastered them thoroughly. They are often of a very difficult nature, and sometimes while apparently very simple they are in reality extremely intricate.

  Jose Raul Capablanca

  Simple, Reality, Boards

  José Raúl Capablanca (1921). “Chess Fundamentals”, Harcourt

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• When you sit down to play a game you should think only about the position, but not about the opponent. Whether chess is regarded as a science, or an art, or a sport, all the same psychology bears no relation to it and only stands in the way of real chess.

  Jose Raul Capablanca

  Sports, Art, Real

  71 Copy quote

• The weaker the player the more terrible the Knight is to him, but as a player increases in strength the value of the Bishop becomes more evident to him, and of course there is, or should be, a corresponding decease in his estimation of the value of the Knight as compared to the bishop.

  Jose Raul Capablanca

  Player, Knights, Bishops

  José Raúl Capablanca (1921). “Chess Fundamentals”, Harcourt

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• Every time I win a tournament I have to think that there is something wrong with modern chess.

  Viktor Korchnoi

  Winning, Thinking, Modern

  27 Copy quote

• A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great Chess player

  Bobby Fischer

  Success, Strong, Memories

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• In my opinion, the style of a player should not be formed under the influence of any single great master.

  Vasily Smyslov

  Player, Style, Opinion

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• Greg Kaidanov tried to get me to view his behavior as part of what makes him great - if he wouldn't get so upset about losing, he'd never maintain the level that he has. I see his point, but somehow I can't accept the idea that these sorts of verbal assaults on people are justified, no matter what their end goal is.

  Irina Krush

  Views, Ideas, People

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• Chess is the touchstone of intellect.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Intellect, Touchstones

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• 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.

  Jose Raul Capablanca

  Mistake, Book, Variation

  65 Copy quote

• Chess is a matter of vanity.

  Alexander Alekhine

  Vanity, Matter

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• Chess is a good mistress but a bad master.

  Gerald Abrahams

  Mistress, Masters

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• Playing chess is more athletic than artistic. Champions are more concerned with victory than beauty: it's war with occasionally graceful kicks.

  Jennifer Shahade

  War, Athletic, Champion

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• Chess, like love, is infectious at any age.

  Salo Flohr

  Love Is, Like Love, Age

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• Checkers is for tramps

  Paul Morphy

  Checkers, Tramps

  48 Copy quote

• There is only one thing Fischer does in Chess without pleasure: to lose!

  Boris Spassky

  Doe, Pleasure, Fischer

  18 Copy quote