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New Additions - Part One

New quotes that we haven't even had time to categorize yet!

To be creative, to be adventurous, to exhibit flair, is no excuse for not studying hard. The truth is exactly the opposite. You have to work constantly at your game, at your openings and endings. A deep analysis is necessary. Chess is not a fixed or static body of knowledge. It's dynamic. Even the books I've written on chess and the annotations I've made on my own matches are not set in stone. I keep updating them. There must be a constant questioning of old ideas, even one's own. – Garry Kasparov

I'm really an ordinary guy. I make mistakes. It kills me when I do. But I'm willing to talk about my mistakes in the analysis afterwards. I don't hide anything. I've always loved this game from childhood. I've loved studying chess. I've loved the life around chess - the new friends, the atmosphere, the struggle. – Garry Kasparov

I always play carefully and try to avoid unnecessary risks I consider my method to be right as any superfluous daring runs counter to the essential character of chess, which is not a gamble but a purely intellectual combat conducted in accordance with the exact rules of logic. – Jose Raul Capablanca

Be aggressive, but play soundly. Don't take unnecessary chances. – Bruce Pandolfini

His draw ratio in classical games made Tigran Petrosian look like Attila the Hun. – Mig Greengard (on Leko)

He turned out to belong to the type of publisher who dreams of becoming a male muse to his author, and our brief conjunction ended abruptly upon his suggesting I replace chess by music and make Luzhin a demented violinist. – Vladimir Nabokov

Of all my Russian books, The Defense contains and diffuses the greatest “warmth” which may seem odd seeing how supremely abstract chess is supposed to be. – Vladimir Nabokov

Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this something, at whatever cost, must be attained. – Marie Curie

We should talk over the lessons of the day, or lose them in Music, Chess, or the merriments of our family companions. The heart thus lightened, our pillows would be soft, and health and long life would attend the happy scene. – Thomas Jefferson

When your house is on fire, you can’t 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 (on Mikhail Gorbachev’s attitude to changes in Eastern Europe)

Chess is a more highly symbolic game, but the aggressions are therefore even more frankly represented in the play. It probably began as a war game; that is, the representation of a miniature battle between the forces of two kingdoms. – Karl Meninger

Little by little the pieces and squares began to come to life and exchange impressions. The crude might of the queen was transformed into refined power, restrained and directed by a system of sparkling levers; the pawns grew cleverer; the knights stepped forth with a Spanish caracole. Everything had acquired sense and at the same time everything was concealed. Every creator is a plotter; and all the pieces impersonating his ideas on the board were here as conspirators and sorcerers. Only in the final instant was their secret spectacularly exposed. – Vladimir Nabokov

People's affections can be as thin as paper; life is like a game of chess, changing with each move. – Chinese proverb

I once heard of a murderer who propped his two victims up against a chessboard in sporting attitudes and was able to get as far as Seattle before his crime was discovered. – Robert Benchley

Chess is my world. Not a house, nor a castle where I can hide from life's troubles, but precisely a world. A world where I can express myself. – Mikhail Tal

Simple positions give an inexperienced an opportunity not only to understand, but also to feel deeply what each piece is able to do. – Vassily Smyslov

Combination is a possible impossibility! It is a divine spark which exists independently of all the other chess ideas and illuminates the chess game as a meteor. – Saviely Tartakower

Having made a mistake or inexact move, you should not think "everything is lost", and be vexed, but quickly orientate yourself, and in the new situation, look for a new plan. – David Bronstein

Chess is above all a game of skill. Its beauty and subtlety can only be fully understood by those who take the time to see - not only the clever moves that actually appear on the board but also the hidden ideas and threats which the players had to avoid. – Tim Harding

Do not be in a hurry to do something you can't undo. – Kelly Atkins

Chess is my life!!! Sometimes my life sucks! – Ernest Simmons

A combination is a blend of ideas-pins, forks, discovered checks, double attacks which endow the pieces with magical powers. It is a series of staggering blows before the knockout. It is the climatic scene in the play appearing on the board. It is the touch of enchantment that gives life to inanimate pieces. It is all this and more. A combination is the very heart of chess. – Irving Chernev

I have never asked big guns to be my friends. Since my youth, I have not befriended those people who might be useful, rather those who are nice and interesting. – Alexander Khalifman

So often, it is not a question of how much you know, but how well and consistently you apply what you do know. – Dan Heisman

In my opinion, the process of chess is based essentially on interlinking exchanges. The objective of these interlinking exchanges is a relative gain of material or of positional value. – Mikhail Botvinnik

The dynamics of chess consists of a gradual change in the situation on the chessboard, even after an apparently unimportant series of moves. – Gennady Nesis

Pawns symbolize children, particularly little boys. They can grow up (promote) but it is again significant that they may not become King. – Ruben Fine

Lost game: something your opponent had before he won. – Source Unknown

Where all men think alike, no one thinks very much. – Walter Lippmann

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. – Charles Dickens

The reason they call it chess, is that all the four-letter words were taken. – Source Unknown

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Portisch labored unremittingly, gaining a reputation as Caissa’s ultimate anal retentive - the Herr Sitzfleisch of Chess. – Larry Parr

Fischer - Spassky II, though widely accepted as a match for one version of the world chess title, was a letdown. Which is because Bobby, all 60 extra pounds of him, let us down. He played better than initially admitted, and he played better than anybody else would have after a 20-year layoff. But this bearded, bloated, bejowled alte-cocker was not the beardless, bony, boyish cock-of-the-walk who slammed the chess door behind him 20 years earlier. He was the flattest of all flat tires: a punctured myth. – Larry Parr

He was smart and strong enough to become world chess champion, making him a good winner who merited respect. And he was still smarter and stronger to lose gracefully, making him an even better loser, who retains our respect. – Larry Parr (on Spassky)

He was the nice guy who finished first by coming second in the most celebrated chess competition in the 1,500-year history of the royal game. – Larry Parr (on Spassky)

Among the great post-WWII Soviet grandmasters, Tigran Petrosian came under the influence of Archil Ebralidze, for whom the Father, Son and Holy Ghost of chess were Aaron Nimzowitsch, Capablanca and the Caro-Kann Defense. – Larry Parr

The difference between the sacrificial particularist Tal and the sacrificial universalist Spassky was that when the former pitched a piece, one might usefully fight on, whereas when the latter donated material, one might as well begin preparing for the next round. – Bent Larsen

My best time was when I was moving to become champion. – Boris Spassky

He was an individual and so was I. Today, these players have coaches, physicians, cooks, psychologists, and parapsychologists. The championship has become a fight between two big collective farms. – Boris Spassky (on Fischer)

At the chess board he replaced Keres as Caissa’s consummate poker-face, typically sitting sideways at the table with legs crossed, cigarette in right hand, head held back and eyebrows arched. He gave an impression of slightly bored detachment. – Larry Parr (on Spassky)

This game is great because it teaches you responsibility. You only have yourself to blame if you lose the game. The same is true in life. If you want to win, you have to throw your blame book out the window and take responsibility for yourself. – Orrin Hudson

In my 23 years experience with the game, I've found that students who learn to play chess perform better academically. Chess helps children improve in mathematics, physics, and independent research. It also helps kids develop common sense, concentration, planning, and following rules, ultimately giving them confidence in other areas, and skills for a lifetime. – Orrin Hudson

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