Chess Pawns Quotes

• The passed Pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient

  Aron Nimzowitsch

  Keys, Police, Criminals

  74 Copy quote

• Pawns not only create the sketch for the whole painting, they are also the soil, the foundation, of any position

  Anatoly Karpov

  Pawns, Soil, Foundation

  65 Copy quote

• It cannot be too greatly emphasized that the most important role in pawn endings is played by the king.

  Siegbert Tarrasch

  Kings, Important, Roles

  Siegbert Tarrasch (2012). “The Game of Chess”, p.68, Courier Corporation

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• He who fears an isolated Queen's Pawn should give up Chess.

  Siegbert Tarrasch

  Queens, Giving Up, Chess Game

  "The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played : 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy". Book by Irving Chernev, Game 18 : The Isolated Pawn (p. 81), 1965.

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• Pawn endings are to Chess what putting is to golf

  Cecil Purdy

  Golf, Chess, Pawns

  23 Copy quote

• The isolated Pawn casts gloom over the entire chessboard

  Aron Nimzowitsch

  Chess, Pawns, Casts

  27 Copy quote

• A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom or never make a fortune.

  Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

  Chess, Pawns, Fortune

  11 Copy quote

• The Pawns are the soul of the game

  Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

  Games, Chess Game, Chess Pieces

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Thomas Huxley

  Life, Player, Games

  'Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews' (1870) 'A Liberal Education'

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• No pawn exchanges, no file-opening, no attack.

  Aron Nimzowitsch

  Chess, Pawns, Opening

  15 Copy quote

• A passed pawn increase in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes.

  Jose Raul Capablanca

  Chess Pieces, Numbers, Boards

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

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• The most important feature of the Chess position is the activity of the pieces. This is absolutely fundamental in all phases of the game: Opening, Middlegame and especially Endgame. The primary constraint on a piece's activity is the Pawn structure

  Michael Stean

  Games, Chess Game, Chess Pieces

  Michael Stean (2013). “Simple Chess: New Algebraic Edition”, p.7, Courier Corporation

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

  Boris Spassky

  Mobility, Chess, Pawns

  20 Copy quote

• A knight ending is really a pawn ending.

  Mikhail Botvinnik

  Knights, Chess, Pawns

  4 Copy quote

• An isolated pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard.

  Savielly Tartakower

  Chess, Pawns, Spread

  11 Copy quote

• When your house is on fire, you cant be bothered with the neighbors. Or, as we say in Chess, if your King is under attack you don't worry about losing a Pawn on the Queen's side

  Garry Kasparov

  Kings, Queens, Fire

  14 Copy quote

• The shortcoming of hanging pawns is that they present a convenient target for attack. As the exchange of men proceeds, their potential strength lessens and during the endgame they turn out, as a rule, to be weak.

  Boris Spassky

  Men, Target, Chess

  23 Copy quote

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

  Nigel Short

  Games, Chess Game, Too Much

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• It is annoying that the rules of chess do not allow a pawn to take either horizontally or backwards, but only forwards ... This psychological tuning is ideal for attacking purposes, but what about for defence?

  David Bronstein

  Purpose, Tuning, Chess

  David Bronstein (1991). “200 Open Games”, p.195, Courier Corporation

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• It is always advantageous to exchange your king's bishop pawn for the king's pawn, since this leads to the seizure of the centre and, in addition, to the opening of a file for the rook.

  Francois-Andre Danican Philidor

  Kings, Bishops, Chess

  5 Copy quote

• White has no positional equivalent for the centralized pawn.

  Siegbert Tarrasch

  White, Chess, Pawns

  5 Copy quote

• The king pawn and the queen pawn are the only ones to be moved in the early part of the game.

  Wilhelm Steinitz

  Kings, Queens, Games

  6 Copy quote

• I like 1.e4 very much, but my results are better with 1.d4.

  Anatoly Karpov

  Chess, Pawns, Results

  5 Copy quote

• The rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature.

  Thomas Huxley

  Expanding Universe, Law, Games

  'Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews' (1870) 'A Liberal Education'

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• There is no disputing that in the eyes of Schlechter, Teichmann or even Rubinstein, the backward pawn was something more substantial than lively piece play, but in our day the latter is more often preferred.

  David Bronstein

  Eye, Play, Pieces

  David Bronstein, Jim Marfia (1979). “Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953”, p.305, Courier Corporation

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