Chess is a very logical game and it is the man who can reason most logically and profoundly in it that ought to win. — Jose Raul Capablanca
These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess. — Kobe Bryant
Those who think that it is easy to play chess are mistaken. During a game a player lives on his nerves, and at the same time he must be perfectly composed. — Viktor Korchnoi
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
Chess is something more than a game. It is an intellectual diversion which has certain artistic qualities and many scientific elements. — Jose Raul Capablanca
I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them. — Madam C. J. Walker
For what it's worth, it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over. — F. Scott Fitzgerald
Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny. — Aristotle
Chess Rules Quotes
The rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. — Thomas Huxley
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
As a rule, the more mistakes there are in a game, the more memorable it remains, because you have suffered and worried over each mistake at the board. — Viktor Korchnoi
Every man needs woman when his life is mess, because like in game of chess; queen protects king.
Chess continues to advance over time, so the players of the future will inevitably surpass me in the quality of their play, assuming the rules and regulations allow them to play serious chess. But it will likely be a long time before anyone spends 20 consecutive years as number, one as I did. — Garry Kasparov
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
By strictly observing Botvinnik's rule regarding the thorough analysis of one's own games, with the years I have come to realize that this provides the foundation for the continuous development of chess mastery. — Garry Kasparov
Chess like love, like music, has the power to make man happy.
The Kremlin is constantly changing the rules of the game to suit its purposes. We are not playing chess, we're playing roulette. — Garry Kasparov
What do I do when we're not taping? Sit in a dark room and refine my plans for someday ruling Earth from a blimp. And chess. — Ryan Stiles
I believe every chess player senses beauty, when he succeeds in creating situations, which contradict the expectations and the rules, and he succeeds in mastering this situation. — Vladimir Kramnik
As a rule, so-called "positional" sacrifices are considered more difficult, and therefore more praise-worthy, than those which are based exclusively on an exact calculation of tactical possibilities. — Alexander Alekhine
Chess Quotes
Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do. — Jean Piaget
You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one — Mikhail Tal
Whoever called snooker "chess with balls" was rude, but right. — Clive James
Of course, my father was a soccer player. He used to play very good. Then I was young, eight or nine years, ten years old, I just want to be like my father.
In my games I have sometimes found a combination intuitively simply feeling that it must be there. Yet I was not able to translate my thought processes into normal human language. — Mikhail Tal
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. — Emo Philips
In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate. — Isaac Asimov
You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player. — Jose Raul Capablanca
Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's OK to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless. — Magnus Carlsen
There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine — Mikhail Tal
Chess Game Quotes
I don't believe in psychology. I believe in good moves — Bobby Fischer
Later, I began to succeed in decisive games. Perhaps because I realized a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but also my opponent — Mikhail Tal
In order to improve your game you must study the endgame before everything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middlegame and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame. — Jose Raul Capablanca
When I asked Fischer why he had not played a certain move in our game, he replied: 'Well, you laughed when I wrote it down!' — Mikhail Tal
Of course, errors are not good for a chess game, but errors are unavoidable and in any case, a game without ant errors, or as they say 'flawless game' is colorless. — Mikhail Tal
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
Capablanca was among the greatest of chess players, but not because of his endgame. His trick was to keep his openings simple, and then play with such brilliance in the middlegame that the game was decided - even though his ooponent didn't always know it - before they arrived at the ending. — Bobby Fischer
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
I give 98 percent of my mental energy to Chess Others give only 2 percent — Bobby Fischer
When I was preparing for one term's work in the Botvinnik school I had to spend a lot of time on king and pawn endings. So when I came to a tricky position in my own games I knew the winning method. — Garry Kasparov
A lot of people think being at the top means you have to be the best at a certain game. You don’t. It’s more about personality. — KSI
All this twaddle, the existence of God, atheism, determinism, liberation, societies, death, etc., are pieces of a chess game called language, and they are amusing only if one does not preoccupy oneself with 'winning or losing this game of chess. — Marcel Duchamp
When I was a child I liked the games of Capablanca, and later I was captivated by Alekhine's play. — Vladimir Kramnik
Discovered check is the dive bomber of the Chessboard — Reuben Fine
It was a beautiful moment at the end to win a game of this stature. — Mikel Arteta
Methodical thinking is of more use in Chess than inspiration — Cecil Purdy
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
Chess is a game sufficiently rich in meaning that it is easily capable of containing elements of both tragedy and comedy. — Luke McShane
Chess Match Quotes
The cherished dream of every chessplayer is to play a match with the World Champion. But here is the paradox: the closer you come to the realization of this goal, the less you think about it. — Sayings
At the highest level, if you don’t have a solid defensive base, you can’t get by. In one match, yes. But over a whole competition? No. — Didier Deschamps
The more matches I play, the better I feel on the pitch. — Antoine Griezmann
When I started watching matches, it was those of Marseille. After that, it was Lyon. I went to see them all the time in the league or the Champions League with my dad. — Antoine Griezmann
The human element, the human flaw and the human nobility - those are the reasons that chess matches are won or lost. — Viktor Korchnoi
We must be happy with the outcome because Rennes played a pretty good match tonight. They stopped us playing our way by defending well. — Didier Deschamps
Within these premises, the only thing one can be is an impeccable mediator. One is not the player in this cosmic match of chess, one is simply a pawn on the chessboard. What decides everything is a conscious impersonal energy that sorcerers call intent or the Spirit. — Carlos Castaneda
In the current FIDE World Championship, on the knock-out system, weaker players have good chances. Those, who in a long match would practically have no chance, here may creep through. — Sayings
Have you ever seen a demonstrable example of equality in your entire life? Can it be glimpsed in any dog show or classroom? In any ping pong game or chess match? Of course not. It is a philosophical abstraction, something nowhere to be found in nature. — Boyd Rice
I'm not afraid of Spassky. The world knows I'm the best. You don't need a match to prove it. — Bobby Fischer
Chess Pieces Quotes
Help your pieces so they can help you — Paul Morphy
The king, which during the opening and middlegame stage is often a burden because it has to be defended, becomes in the endgame a very important and aggressive piece, and the beginner should realize this, and utilize his king as much as possible. — Jose Raul Capablanca
A passed pawn increase in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes. — Jose Raul Capablanca
It was like when you make a move in chess and just as you take your finger off the piece, you see the mistake you've made, and there's this panic because you don't know yet the scale of disaster you've left yourself open to. — Kazuo Ishiguro
To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game — Savielly Tartakower
To refer to the oft mooted question, "Which piece is stronger, the Bishop or the Knight?" it is clear that the value of the Bishop undergoes greater changes than that of the Knight. — Emanuel Lasker
Though most people love to look at the games of the great attacking masters, some of the most successful players in history have been the quiet positional players. They slowly grind you down by taking away your space, tying up your pieces, and leaving you with virtually nothing to do! — Yasser Seirawan
In the ending the king is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns. — Wilhelm Steinitz
No matter what the name, we're all the same pieces in one big chess game. — Chuck D
Chessboard Quotes
Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity. They are children, women and men who leave or who are forced to leave their homes for various reasons, who share a legitimate desire for knowing and having, but above all for being more — Pope Francis
On the chessboard, lies and hypocrisy do not survive long. The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless fact, culminating in the checkmate, contradicts the hypocrite. — Emanuel Lasker
I started by just sitting by the chessboard exploring things. I didn't even have books at first, and I just played by myself. I learnt a lot from that, and I feel that it is a big reason why I now have a good intuitive understanding of chess. — Magnus Carlsen
I would never want Ukraine to be a piece on the map, on the chessboard of big global players, so that someone could toss us around, use us as cover, as part of some bargain. — Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The isolated Pawn casts gloom over the entire chessboard — Aron Nimzowitsch
Migrants and refugees are not pawns on the chessboard of humanity — Pope Francis
Ukraine, a new and important space on the Eurasian chessboard, is a geopolitical pivot because its very existence as an independent country helps to transform Russia. Without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be a Eurasian empire. — Zbigniew Brzezinski
An isolated pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard. — Savielly Tartakower
The Chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chessboard, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem — Marcel Duchamp
Unchecked pride evolves into swagger, a hypnotizing mask of insecurity that can and does compromise our ability to make progress and attain power. Pride stands in the way of forgiveness and a strategic approach to navigating a chessboard rigged to prevent pawns from becoming kings and queens. — Jason Whitlock
Chess Pawns Quotes
The great World Champions Morphy, Steinitz, and Lasker were past masters in the art of Pawn play; they had no superiors in their handling of endgames. The present World Champion has not the strength of the other three as an endgame player, and is therefore inferior to them. — Jose Raul Capablanca
Pawns not only create the sketch for the whole painting, they are also the soil, the foundation, of any position — Anatoly Karpov
It cannot be too greatly emphasized that the most important role in pawn endings is played by the king. — Siegbert Tarrasch
A gambit never becomes sheer routine as long as you fear you may lose the king and pawn ending! — Bent Larsen
He who fears an isolated Queen's Pawn should give up Chess. — Siegbert Tarrasch
As Olafsson showed me, White can win... It's hard to believe. I stayed up all night analysing, finally convicing myself, and, incidentally, learning a lot about Rook and Pawn endings in the process. — Bobby Fischer
Pawn endings are to Chess what putting is to golf — Cecil Purdy
The power of hanging Pawns is based precisely in their Mobility, in their Ability to create acute situations instantly. — Boris Spassky
I'd rather have a Pawn than a finger — Reuben Fine
Modern Chess is too much concerned with things like Pawn structure. Forget it, Checkmate ends the game — Nigel Short
Most players ... do not like losing, and consider defeat as something shameful. This is a wrong attitude. Those who wish to perfect themselves must regard their losses as lessons and learn from them what sorts of things to avoid in the future. — Jose Raul Capablanca
The best chess-player in Christendom may be little more than the best player of chess; but proficiency in whist implies capacity for success in all those more important undertakings where mind struggles with mind. — Edgar Allan Poe
Could we look into the head of a Chess player, we should see there a whole world of feelings, images, ideas, emotion and passion — Alfred Binet
I loved being the best player in the world. There was no pressure staying there. — Stephen Hendry
In chess so much depends on opening theory, so the champions before the last century did not know as much as I do and other players do about opening theory. So if you just brought them back from the dead they wouldn't do well. They'd get bad openings. — Bobby Fischer
By 2012, my game was shot. You’re sitting on your chair watching players’ leagues below you play shots you can’t. That destroyed me. — Stephen Hendry
A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great Chess player — Bobby Fischer
I try to be a complete player – in attack and in defense – and to improve every year. — Antoine Griezmann
Chess as a sport requires a lot of mental stamina, and this is what that makes it different from a physical sport. Chess players have a unique ability of taking in a lot of information and remembering relevant bits. So, memory and mental stamina are the key attributes. — Viswanathan Anand
It is not possible to become a great player without having learned how to analyse deeply and accurately. — Mark Dvoretsky
Without an identity, you cannot plan and you cannot convince a player to do what you want. — Mikel Arteta
The choice of opening, whether to aim for quiet or risky play, depends not only on the style of a player, but also on the disposition with which he sits down at the board. — Efim Geller
I have tried to convince the players that if we work on certain things in training, they will happen in games and we will score goals from them. — Mikel Arteta
Enormous self-belief, intuition, the ability to take a risk at a critical moment and go in for a very dangerous play with counter-chances for the opponent - it is precisely these qualities that distinguish great players. — Garry Kasparov
Analysis, if it is really carried out with a complete concentration of his powers, forms and completes a chess player. — Lev Polugaevsky
Chess books should be used as we use glasses: to assist the sight, although some players make use of them as if they thought they conferred sight — Jose Raul Capablanca
In the ’90s, I never socialised with other players. — Stephen Hendry
The combination player thinks forward; he starts from the given position, and tries the forceful moves in his mind — Emanuel Lasker
We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a Chessplayer's nature — Rudolf Spielmann
You play with 10 players, you don’t play alone. — Kylian Mbappe
It’s always good to play with big players, you know. — Paul Pogba
Young players calculate everything, a requirement of their relative inexperience. — Samuel Reshevsky
It’s how I’ve been playing my whole life, guarding the best player on the other team. — Kawhi Leonard
I’m not trying to say that I’m the strongest, only that I want to be. I may not be among the most beloved players, but that’s not my target. I’m working to be the best. — Paul Pogba
Boris Vasilievich was the only top-class player of his generation who played gambits regularly and without fear ... Over a period of 30 years he did not lose a single game with the King's Gambit, and among those defeated were numerous strong players of all generations, from Averbakh, Bronstein and Fischer, to Seirawan. — Garry Kasparov
Nowadays you never see players playing cards. We used to sit around playing cards together all the time. But I can’t fight that, I have to adapt and change. — Didier Deschamps
Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan. — Alexander Alekhine
Ultimately, what separates a Winner from a Loser at the Grandmaster level is the Willingness to do the Unthinkable. — Garry Kasparov
The ability to create and to control the tension of battle is perhaps the principal attainment of the great player. — Savielly Tartakower
I claim that nothing else is so effective in encouraging the growth of chess strength as such independent analysis, both of the games of the great players and your own. — Mikhail Botvinnik
The players are writing a beautiful page of the club’s history and also of French football history. — Didier Deschamps
The first great chess players, including the world champion, got by perfectly well without constant coaches. — Anatoly Karpov
A player can sometimes afford the luxury of an inaccurate move, or even a definite error, in the opening or middlegame without necessarily obtaining a lost position. In the endgame ... an error can be decisive, and we are rarely presented with a second chance. — Paul Keres
Above all else, before playing in competitions a player must have regard to his health, for if he is suffering from ill-health he cannot hope for success. In this connection the best of all tonics is 15 to 20 days in the fresh air, in the country. — Mikhail Botvinnik
You can't overestimate the importance of psychology in chess, and as much as some players try to downplay it, I believe that winning requires a constant and strong psychology not just at the board but in every aspect of your life. — Garry Kasparov
Any experienced player knows how a change in the character of the play influences your psychological mood. — Garry Kasparov
The game gives us a satisfaction that Life denies us. And for the Chess player, the success which crowns his work, the great dispeller of sorrows, is named 'combination'. — Emanuel Lasker
In Conclusion
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