Favorite Quotes on ChEsS

on Wed May 07, 2014 3:17 pm by · on Wed May 07, 2014 3:17 pm by

The great mobility of the King forms one of the chief characteristics of all endgame strategy. In the middlegame the King is a mere "super", in the endgame on the other hand - on of the "principals". We must therefore develop him, bring him nearer to the fighting line.

- Nimzowitsch

on Thu May 08, 2014 1:55 pm by · on Thu May 08, 2014 1:55 pm by

"It is always better to sacrifice your opponent's men."

- Savielly Tartakower

on Fri May 09, 2014 2:36 pm by · on Fri May 09, 2014 2:36 pm by

"Bobby never cared about money, though. His only desire was to prove that his choices were correct: He wanted chess to be important, because he was a chess player, and he wanted to be important. Bobby knew money was important, but he didn't have a clue why, outside of clothes and status. The only way he could accomplish what he wanted was to fight for a lot of money. Once he got it, he gave it away. He did not know how to spend it. And once he'd become champion, after, essentially, sacrificing his life for it, he didn't know how to spend his time."

- Bob Wade

on Fri May 09, 2014 2:48 pm by · on Fri May 09, 2014 2:48 pm by

VocalTechnique wrote:"Bobby never cared about money, though. His only desire was to prove that his choices were correct: He wanted chess to be important, because he was a chess player, and he wanted to be important. Bobby knew money was important, but he didn't have a clue why, outside of clothes and status. The only way he could accomplish what he wanted was to fight for a lot of money. Once he got it, he gave it away. He did not know how to spend it. And once he'd become champion, after, essentially, sacrificing his life for it, he didn't know how to spend his time."

- Bob Wade

Bobby Fischer played his Life like a game of chess where the objective is to win. His money was his pawns, his fame was his knights and bishops, and his skills over the board was his queen. He sacrificed all of this ... to win.

on Sat May 10, 2014 7:45 pm by · on Sat May 10, 2014 7:45 pm by

"I think it's almost definite that the game is a draw theoretically."

- Robert J Fischer

on Sun May 11, 2014 4:46 pm by · on Sun May 11, 2014 4:46 pm by

"Whoever has known bumper to bumper traffic snarls of a Sunday afternoon on the way home to the big city (and who has not?) would gladly give up a Rook for the open road."

- commenting on Spielmann-Eljaschoff, Munich 1903
- Tony Santasiere

on Mon May 12, 2014 5:22 pm by · on Mon May 12, 2014 5:22 pm by

"First restrain, next blockade, lastly destroy."

- Aron Nimzowitsch (Strategy)

on Tue May 13, 2014 1:30 pm by · on Tue May 13, 2014 1:30 pm by

"I do not play chess - I fight at chess. Therefore I willingly combine the tactical with the strategic, the fantastic with the scientific, the combinative with the positional, and I aim to respond to the demands of each given position …"

- Alexander Alekhine

on Wed May 14, 2014 1:36 pm by · on Wed May 14, 2014 1:36 pm by

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

- Anatoly Karpov

on Thu May 15, 2014 1:21 pm by · on Thu May 15, 2014 1:21 pm by

"... far more people make a living as professional chess players today than ever before. Thanks partly to the availability of computer programs and online matches, there has been a mini-boom in chess interest among young people in many countries. (2012)"

- Kenneth Rogoff

on Mon May 19, 2014 4:27 pm by · on Mon May 19, 2014 4:27 pm by

Had I not played the Sicilian with Black I could have saved myself the trouble of studying for more than 20 years all the more popular lines of this opening, which comprise probably more than 25 percent of all published opening theory!

- Bent Larsen

on Tue May 20, 2014 1:20 pm by · on Tue May 20, 2014 1:20 pm by

If we are to elevate the game of chess to a popular sport, grandmasters must become gladiators, otherwise the game will languish on the periphery, a voice crying in the wilderness, condemned to live and die on a cold arctic shore. (2012)

- Michael Basman

on Thu May 22, 2014 2:00 pm by · on Thu May 22, 2014 2:00 pm by

"When I today ask myself whence I got the moral courage, for it takes moral courage to make a move (or form a plan) running counter to all tradition, I think I may say in answer, that it was only my intense preoccupation with the problem of the blockade which helped me to do so."

- Aaron Nimzowitsch

on Fri May 23, 2014 11:29 pm by · on Fri May 23, 2014 11:29 pm by

"Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people."

- Nigel Short

on Sun May 25, 2014 5:29 pm by · on Sun May 25, 2014 5:29 pm by

The aim was simple: to deprive Karpov of his favourite occupation - standing at the board, staring straight at his opponent. While I was wearing these glasses, all he could admire was his own reflection.

- Viktor Kortchnoi

on Mon May 26, 2014 7:33 pm by · on Mon May 26, 2014 7:33 pm by

"Blitz chess kills your ideas."

- Bobby Fischer

on Tue May 27, 2014 4:52 pm by · on Tue May 27, 2014 4:52 pm by

"If in a battle, I seize a bit of debatable land with a handful of soldiers, without having done anything to prevent an enemy bombardment of the position, would it ever occur to me to speak of a conquest of the terrain in question? Obviously not. Then why should I do so in chess?"

- Aaron Nimzowitsch

on Wed May 28, 2014 1:20 pm by · on Wed May 28, 2014 1:20 pm by

"He won a number of well-known games, by right from the opening holding his opponent in a vice prepared at home. And his grip was strong: after seizing his victim, he would no longer release him."

- Anatoly Karpov (commenting on Alexander Alekhine)

on Fri May 30, 2014 10:30 pm by · on Fri May 30, 2014 10:30 pm by

"The knight has a very peculiar movement. He moves to the third square distant, in an oblique direction, first through the adjoining square either way, and then to the next adjoining square either way again, entering into the one diagonally, and into the other sideways, and his move is always onto a square of a different colour from that which he previously occupied."

- (from: Chess & Draughts Made Easy c 1860)

on Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:09 pm by · on Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:09 pm by

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."

- William Ewart Napier

on Tue Jun 03, 2014 6:16 pm by · on Tue Jun 03, 2014 6:16 pm by

"The hardest part of chess is winning a won game."

- Frank Marshall

on Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:27 pm by · on Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:27 pm by

"Begone! Ignorant and impudent knight, not even in chess can a King be taken."

- (reputedly stated to one of his knights in 1110 after he was nearly captured by enemy forces) - King Louis VI

on Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:41 pm by · on Fri Jun 06, 2014 4:41 pm by

"You will already have noticed how often Capablanca repeated moves, often returning to positions which he had had before. This is not lack of deciciveness or slowness, but the employment of a basic endgame principle which is 'Do not hurry'."

- Alexander Kotov

on Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:59 pm by · on Thu Jun 12, 2014 1:59 pm by

"No fool can play chess, and only fools do."

- German proverb

on Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:22 am by · on Mon Jun 30, 2014 1:22 am by

"In chess the most unbelievable thing for me is that it’s a game for everybody: rich, poor, girl, boy, old, young. It’s a fantastic game which can unite people and generations! It’s a language which you’ll find people "speak" in every country. If you reach a certain level you find a very rich world! Art, sport, logic, psychology, a battlefield, imagination, creativity not only in practical games but don’t forget either how amazing a feeling it is to compose a study, for example (unfortunately that’s not appreciated these days but it’s a fantastic part of chess!)."

- Judit Polgar

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