Chess Quotes - Page 38

• It's easy for me to get along with chess players. Even though we are all very different, we have chess in common.

  Magnus Carlsen

  Player, Different, Common

  "The (New) Greatest Chess Player Of All Time". Interview with Ryan McKee, www.askmen.com. December 10, 2012.

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• Right now I'm really happy with how things are going with my chess career, so I'm not thinking of doing anything else.

  Magnus Carlsen

  Thinking, Careers, Really Happy

  Interview with Ryan McKee, www.askmen.com. December 10, 2012.

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• I was lucky enough to attend schools where they were understanding about when I needed to go abroad to play chess. Of course, socially it is important to go to school and interact with people your own age.

  Magnus Carlsen

  School, Play, People

  "The (New) Greatest Chess Player Of All Time". Interview with Ryan McKee, www.askmen.com. December 10, 2012.

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• Maybe if I didn't have the talent in chess I'd find the talent in something else. The only thing I know is that I have talent in chess, and I'm satisfied with that.

  Magnus Carlsen

  Talent, Satisfied, Knows

  "The Top Chess Player In The World Impressed The Heck Out Of Everyone At This NYC Exhibition". Interview with Gus Lubin, www.businessinsider.com. September 4, 2012.

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• One of the things that first attracted me to chess is that it brings you into contact with intelligent, civilized people - men of the stature of Garry Kasparov, the former world champion, who was my part-time coach.

  Magnus Carlsen

  Intelligent, Men, People

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• The older I grow, the more I find myself alone.

  Alberto Giacometti

  Solitude, Listening, Age

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• Scientists are a friendly, atheistic, hard-working, beer-drinking lot whose minds are preoccupied with sex, chess and baseball when they are not preoccupied with science.

  Yann Martel

  Baseball, Sex, Drinking

  Yann Martel (2009). “Life of Pi”, p.5, Vintage Canada

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• I suspect millions of people from my generation probably have comparable stories to tell: if not of sports simulations then of Dungeons & Dragons, or the geopolitical strategy of games like Diplomacy, a kind of chess superimposed onto actual history.

  Steven Johnson

  Sports, Dragons, Games

  Steven Johnson (2006). “Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter”, p.8, Penguin

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• The pitcher setting up the batter. It's chess, and you play with it.

  Al Leiter

  Play, Pitcher, Settings

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• Know that life, which does everything perfectly, is now moving you in a new direction. The chess piece of your existence is being moved to a new square on the board of life.

  Frederick Lenz

  Moving, Buddhism, Chess Pieces

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• Initially I was very drawn to the Tao Te Ching, the Taoist philosophy. It was helping me deal with the balance of these external and internal issues with my chess life. Tai chi is the martial embodiment of Taoist philosophy. Initially, I had no intention of competing in the martial arts; it was just the meditation.

  Joshua Waitzkin

  Art, Philosophy, Issues

  "'Art of Learning' isn't just black and white". Interview with Tracey Wong Briggs, usatoday30.usatoday.com. July 17, 2007.

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• When you trade, the key concern is not always the value of the pieces being exchanged, but what's left on the board.

  Dan Heisman

  Keys, Boards, Pieces

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• When everything on the board is clear it can be so difficult to conceal your thoughts from your opponent.

  David Bronstein

  Boards, Opponents, Strategy

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

  Anatoly Karpov

  Pieces, Cost, Strategy

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• 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.

  Bent Larsen

  Opportunity, Action, Strategy

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• Strategically important points should be overprotected. If the pieces are so engaged, they get their regard in the fact that they will then find themselves well posted in every respect.

  Aron Nimzowitsch

  Important, Pieces, Facts

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• The infallible criterion by which to distinguish the true from the would-be strategist is the degree of originality of his conceptions. It makes little difference whether this originality is carried to excess, as was the case with Steinitz and Nimzowitsch.

  Alexander Alekhine

  Differences, Would Be, Excess

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• During a chess tournament a master must envisage himself as a cross between an ascetic monk and a beast of prey.

  Alexander Alekhine

  Beast, Strategy, Monk

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• It is better to follow out a plan consistently even if it isn't the best one than to play without a plan at all. The worst thing is to wander about aimlessly.

  Alexander Kotov

  Play, Strategy, Wander

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• You must be able to handle a variety of move orders during the first 5-6 moves - otherwise you'll find yourself 'tricked' time and time again.

  Edmar Mednis

  Moving, Order, Finding Yourself

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

  Edmar Mednis

  Strong, Play, Opponents

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• To find the right plan is just as hard as looking for its sound justification.

  Emanuel Lasker

  Sound, Strategy, Justification

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• Play the move that forces the win in the simplest way. Leave the brilliancies to Alekhine, Keres and Tal.

  Irving Chernev

  Moving, Winning, Play

  Irving Chernev (1965). “The most instructive games of chess ever played”

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• The proper timing of an attacking plan is a difficult matter which places great strain on a player's nerves. Mastery of this art is required for success in the international arena, but perfect mastery eludes even the very best chessplayers!

  Leonid Shamkovich

  Art, Player, Perfect

  Leonid Shamkovich, Eric Schiller (1987). “Saving lost positions”, B. T. Batsford Limited

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• As long as my opponent has not yet castled, on each move I seek a pretext for an offensive. Even when I realize that the king is not in danger.

  Mikhail Tal

  Kings, Moving, Long

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