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Chess Quotations

In the News

Chess does not exist in a vacuum. – Graham Burgess

This event is terrible for British chess. There has been such hype and it will take us years to recover. – Leonard Barden (on Kasparov's overwhelming defeat of Short in their '93 championship match)

The organization of the match verged on the ludicrous. The venue for the match was changed from Cologne to New York without consulting or even informing me! The only response to the various problems was 'We are doing our best, but...' They tended to take the most optimistic interpretation of any good news, but bad news would be parceled out bit by bit. The dealings with the PCA leading up to the match were thoroughly depressing and, by the time I got to New York, I was just sick of the whole thing! – Viswanathan Anand (on his '95 match against Kasparov)

It was hard to imagine the Myanmar powers-that-be suddenly taking interest in a Western board game called chess. Usually these guys are too busy growing opium, and chess would be the strangest venue for the former Burma to gain international recognition. – Alex Yermolinsky

They don’t understand the first thing about chess. I won this tournament by a margin of 1.5 points - and still they show no respect! – Garry Kasparov (on the audience at Wijk aan Zee in 2000 for not awarding him the daily spectator's prize)

I believe that FIDE is an organization that has fallen into disrepute; that its policies are flawed and that its leaders need to be replaced. – Yasser Seirawan

It's not so easy being a whistle blower. Your colleagues feel a bit uncomfortable because most feel shamed that they didn't state the obvious themselves. The rascals aren't happy. And trying to get folks of goodwill to replace those in power isn't easy. They lead comfortable lives and know that what they will uncover is not going to be pretty… Sigh. Well, even though we've got a bad position we have to soldier on. – Yasser Seirawan

What FIDE forgets is that the rating system is a measuring tool for determining the playing strengths of players at various moments in time. It shouldn’t be used as political weapon but unfortunately it is. When FIDE does this, it brings the entire rating system into disrepute. By failing to rate legitimate chess events, by excluding players from its rating lists, FIDE damages the credibility of its rating system. – Yasser Seirawan

The world of chess as far as I can see is going to hell in a hand basket, straight down. I mean, Internet chess is growing, fine, but tournaments in the United States are being canceled, tournament participation is down, world chess championships, whatever they mean, are a mess. People are suing the chess federation as we speak, with Susan Polgar and Anatoly Karpov. The copyrights of chess are being debated, we’re having all the wrong discussions, we have the wrong leaders with the wrong attitude. Everything’s wrong! This is a disaster. – Yasser Seirawan

It is extremely unseemly for FIDE to be suing one of the greatest chess players in history and to be using Federation dues to do it. When FIDE decided to counter sue Anatoly Karpov, what this effectively meant was that every chess Federation in the world that paid dues to FIDE was directly supporting this legal action. – Yasser Seirawan

In the course of a couple of pages he manages to describe FIDE, its policies, and officers, as impotent, a laughing stock, serial incompetence, clownish, tawdry, hare-brained, out of touch, ridiculous, knuckle-headed, horrendous, incapable, isolated from reality, disastrous and disorganized!! – Tony Miles (on Seirawan's open letter to FIDE)

Fortunately for the chess world we have an Elliot Ness-type hero in the form of Yasser Seirawan with a mission to clean up the chess world. – John Henderson

Seirawan, the top-ranked American player, may be the game's last best hope. One of the few voices of reason in a game full of mad geniuses. – Lev Grossman

It is hard to believe that someone who speaks so quietly could persuade all opposed sides to go for a compromise. I quickly understood that the American Grandmaster is a real diplomat and an extraordinarily crafty man. – Ilya Govrodetsky (on Yasser Seirawan's role in the title reunification plan)

The last thing I want to do is lead a group of squabbling chess players. It’s not a lot of fun. – Yasser Seirawan

If chess has an opportunity of moving forward it will take the collective goodwill of its players and if that is absent, then chess players be damned. – Yasser Seirawan

Fighting on your own is an ungrateful business: one has to win a lot of events and gain a reputation that will allow restraining the opponents’ organizational power. – Garry Kasparov

They're still fighting the shadow of Garry Kasparov. It’s not me they should be fighting. Instead they should be working to improve the situation of chess worldwide. It is time for more players to stand up and ask not what they can get out of chess, but what can they do to improve our game. – Garry Kasparov

If the leading players do not organize themselves soon, classical chess will all but disappear. – Garry Kasparov

When the politicians screw up, who is first on the cutback list? The best players in the country, the top grandmasters, who cannot be pleased that they have one less paycheck coming to them thanks to the experts at headquarters. Chess professionals know that they are a low priority, and when things go wrong, they know the politicians will find a way to interfere with their ability to eke out a meager existence playing chess. And it is the fault of the politicos that the professional players have it so tough in the first place. – Stephen Leary

Frankly speaking, FIDE should be dismissed all together and then established once again. All the thieves and loafers should be dispersed with a filthy broom, and those who have got a head on their shoulders should stay. – Yevgeny Bareev

As usual, there is a gap the size of the clot in Dick Cheney’s heart between what FIDE says and what they do. – Mig Greengard

Everywhere you go in chess there seem to be financial problems. – British Chess Magazine, July 2000

Some chess players may think they will benefit if the recent FIDE move towards the copyrighting of chess games goes ahead, but I can assure you that 99 per cent of the chess community will suffer, and that means you. – Tim Harding

It's utter howling confusion and the sad part is that chess' upper echelon is mostly responsible for it; they did it to themselves. They had a golden opportunity to take chess to the next level and they blew it, instead knocking chess backward a notch or thirty. – Steve Lopez

The chess world is a mess! – Peter Svidler

Chess used to have class. – Ulf Andersson

Some twenty years ago an English journalist complained that in sports, only chess and marbles were above suspicion. One wonders what has happened in the world of marbles. – Hans Ree

The descriptions of the early FIDE’s internal strife and myopic policies arouse strong feelings of déjà vu; if anything has changed, it is that the naive, under-funded, chess-ignorant, idealistic, amateur meddlers of Euwe’s youth have been replaced today by worldly, wealthy, chess-ignorant, cynical, professional meddlers. – Taylor Kingston

The tragedy of the chess world consists in the fact that in the twenty-first century, chess is the only one (among the big sports) not to be supervised by any official corporation in the world. This is nonsense; this is nearly disaster for chess. – Klara Kasparova

Serious companies will not sponsor any sport with no professional management, nor a sport that is at war with itself. – Klara Kasparova

When potential sponsors learn about the split of the chess world, about all the conflicts, they usually say: "We'll come when it’s all over." – Garry Kasparov

No corporate sponsor will enter chess if the situation doesn't change. Believe me, I know how big business works. And they will not be interested in sponsoring chess with the grouping we have in control of the game. – Garry Kasparov

If such giants as Coca Cola, IBM or Intel provide chess with so-called "advertising dollars", then one of my main objections to FIDE - about its sources of financing - will be withdrawn. – Garry Kasparov

It does not seem at all unlikely that when Ilyumzhinov's plans get blocked by the national federations, he could easily give up and go back to Kalmykia, where there is less opposition, leaving the chess world in bigger chaos than ever and seriously bankrupt both financially and ideologically, leaving as a lasting memorial only a steady stream of urine samples for the International Olympic Committee. – Tony Miles

Everybody knows that the FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov loves to indulge in wishful thinking. – Garry Kasparov

Either we will do away with the FIDE dictatorship, or (unfortunately, more likely) Ilyumzhinov and his ilk will simply turn chess into a low farce. – Garry Kasparov

FIDE has come to resemble, almost exactly, the United Nations itself. Squabbles, power blocs, international rivalries, lobbying of votes and behind-the-scenes intrigues - the whole diplomatic way of life is there. – Garry Kasparov

Apparently, in order to save chess, it must be destroyed. – Yasser Seirawan (on Ilyumzhinov's policies)

Quick, name this sport: rival world champions, a shady multi-millionaire commissioner, drug testing, boycotts, and shapely young women parading around in skimpy costumes. If you said professional wrestling, you get partial credit. The correct answer, of course, is chess. The governing body of world chess, led by its eccentric president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, has launched an all-out campaign to remake this most elevated of intellectual exercises into a fast-paced, high-stakes spectacle suitable for prime-time television. In the process, Ilyumzhinov is either rescuing chess or dragging it down to the level of Tonya Harding vs. Paula Jones, depending on your point of view. – Lev Grossman

A successful adventurer will never cease to amaze friend and foe with new daring and unexpected actions. Dull and sober citizens are still wondering about his latest feat. Was everything really as it seemed? But the adventurer, always a few steps ahead, is already on to new exploits, leaving his petty-minded critics bewildered. Such an adventurer is Ilyumzhinov. – Hans Ree

What if Ilyumzhinov is murdered by one of his business friends? It stands to reason that this will happen sooner or later. – Hans Ree

History is littered with examples of comfortable inaction despite the dire consequences of leaving dictators unopposed. And whilst Kasparov and Ilyumzhinov can by no means be compared with the likes of Stalin and Hitler they are dictators nevertheless. Left unopposed they will continue to make autocratic decisions, which by their very nature are less sound than the collective, balanced and unselfish wisdom of a true democracy. – Nigel Davies

I’m glad to see I haven't wasted my life! No player ever benefited from FIDE as much as Karpov. It's very significant that even he recognizes the need for change. But I'm not sure that another coup d'état would be helpful right now. – Garry Kasparov (on hearing of Karpov's negative statements about FIDE)

If FIDE returns to Karpov and Kasparov, it would mean regress and return to the past. – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Personally, I’m sick to death of Karpov and Kasparov. The realm of chess politics (impotent men with small minds vying for power over hapless, poverty-stricken chess players) is even more distasteful. – Jeremy Silman

We know that the world of chess is infected by some diseased people but they are not properly opposed. Chess is full of cowards and dirt. – Garry Kasparov

By the time she runs into the classless, egocentric, ignorant and power-hungry chess organizer/millionaire Luis Rentero, you want to protect the poor girl by putting the bastard in stocks and pelting him with rotten fruit. – Jeremy Silman (on Xie Jun)

The Americans got the gold medals and to a person I will speak for them that their lives didn’t change one iota. It wasn’t like Wheaties came knocking on the door and said, “My God, we’ve got to get a picture of you guys eating your Wheaties!” Nobody from Bill Clinton’s office came and said “Look, Bill needs some help with the Monica scandal, could you guys stand over there for a photo op?” Nobody got invited to the White House. Nobody got a call from the commercial sponsor. The U.S. Chess Championship didn’t improve. No prizes were increased. Nothing happened. – Yasser Seirawan

Lots of distractions, a strong US economy and job market, and a moribund US chess circuit create poor conditions in which to find the next Fischer. Not that any of the above things had much to do with Fischer, whose genius would have found a way to the top had he been born in Antarctica. – Mig Greengard

The life of the American chess master is a vale of tears. – Frias

Laziness and lack of professionalism on the part of chess bureaucrats in this country has put chess in the US on the brink of disaster. We already are too weak to defend our home court against marginally stronger European players, and the worst is yet to come. – Alex Yermolinsky

The avocation of a professional chess player in the US is still something of a renegade/frivolous/alternative lifestyle, and it is because the USCF hasn't shown the leadership needed to gain respect for the game and its leading exponents. – Stephen Leary

Here in America one of the reasons that the big sports - football, baseball and basketball - are so popular, is because of people like Michael Jordan. He's not just a cool person; he makes $47 million a year. And here, that makes you a hero, whether or not you score the winning shot. If our success is based on financial means, society will keep saying, loser, loser, to the chess players. It makes chess professionally very hard. Sometimes I feel like saying 'OK mum, I'll go back to school and become a doctor. – Yasser Seirawan

The very concept of security/insecurity is imbedded into the fabric of the American society. It's all about self-esteem, and when you know you can be terminated at any minute because some a**holes from New Windsor no longer have the dough to satisfy their corporate ambitions, it makes you wonder if you are in the right business. You let that doubt crawl into your mind and suddenly you're half the man you used to be. No more World Open Championships for you, my friend. – Alex Yermolinsky

The inner workings of the chess political machinery is usually of no concern to most chessplayers. But the cancellation of the US Championship has brought the incompetence of the USCF executives to the attention of the general membership. One must assume that the reason no one wants to sponsor the US Championship is because the USCF bigwigs have antagonized and alienated all the usual funding prospects. Maybe they should consider a telethon. What is Jerry Lewis doing this time of year? – Stephen Leary

This is a sad indictment of the apparent mismanagement of American chess in recent times. – Ron Henley (on the USCF's financial inability to hold the US Championship)

I suppose it is an exceedingly nice life to be considered the World Champion without having to actually defend such a title in a match! – Yasser Seirawan

There are many sports where the World Champion is not the generally accepted top player, and indeed if this were not the case there would be no point in holding World Championships at all. We could just declare Kasparov Champ in perpetuity and forget it - as he seems to have done himself. – Tony Miles

From now on, the World Champion must defend his title on the chessboard, not in press conferences or in the courts. – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Unless we talk about ranks and titles, the organizing body does not really matter. And if it is just money the chess players are fighting for, then everything is clear: the one who gives the money sets the rules. – Garry Kasparov

Does carrying the FIDE title make its carrier ipso facto the strongest player in the world? Are you not the strongest player in the world unless FIDE says you are? When Scarecrow asked the Wizard of Oz for a brain, Tin Man for a heart, and the Cowardly Lion for courage, what did the Great and Powerful Oz give them? A diploma, a testimonial, and a medal. – Burt Hochberg

I have signed a contract with FIDE, my signature binds me, and I am a man of my word. – Viswanathan Anand (on refusing to play in the 1998 WCC match with Kramnik to determine a challenger for Kasparov)

The chess world has had enough of this negative experience. Imagine the situation that each successive world champion, right after winning the title, breaks with the world of chess and makes up his own regulations and championships. This will get us nowhere! – Alexander Khalifman

I do believe that the Kasparov - Kramnik match can not have anything to do with any kind of World Championship, be it official, historical, Brain or whatsoever. I am the legitimate candidate for it since 1998. – Alexei Shirov

Now, two years have passed and the situation is completely different: no one wants to organize this match. The moment has gone. We cannot hold everything up for him so it can be organized. Yes, it’s a pity for him what has happened, but it’s life. – Vladimir Kramnik

I personally don’t feel any guilt or any responsibility for the situation that Shirov finds himself in. – Vladimir Kramnik

All this talk about two world champions is nonsense. Kasparov is the only real one. He proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt. To win the title you have to beat Kasparov in a match. It's as simple as that. – Alexei Shirov

My title cannot be taken away by decree. To be the new world champion, somebody is going to have to sit down across the table and beat me fair and square. – Garry Kasparov

Kasparov is like a McLaren and Kramnik is a Ferrari, now we want to see how they perform out on the track! – Julian Hodgson

Kramnik is a young man in his prime, fearless and very strong. He is inspired by this big match and needs this sort of challenge. He’s very modest himself, but he wants to win it and I think he will. – Lord Rennell (on Kramnik's match with Kasparov)

Watching Kasparov was a revelation. He looked absolutely miserable. He knows he's beat - it's written on his face. Kramnik knows too. A serene confidence radiates from him like some sort of chess Buddha. – David Dunbar

I felt I had no openings with White or Black. Kramnik made some bold choices and my opening preparation was busted. If you think I didn’t prepare for this match, wait until the tournaments, till Wijk aan Zee. I wasn’t outplayed on the board, I was outprepared. He did play better than me in the match, but I don’t know if that’s saying much. – Garry Kasparov (on losing his match with Kramnik)

In fact you could say that all the failures in this match, his as well as mine, can be attributed to character. For my part, I admit to being impulsive. My capacity to remain steady over a long period was, and is, under-developed. – Garry Kasparov (on his 2000 match with Kramnik)

Only a few people can understand what this actually means. Before this match, I had only a vague idea myself. There are so many imponderables. The skill is in organizing one's forces correctly, finding the critical moment in the game, and then not losing your nerve. – Garry Kasparov (on experience and the Kramnik match)

He played for the end game. That was a very smart decision. He didn't show any superiority. I played poorly. I was not up to the task. – Garry Kasparov (on Kramnik in their 2000 match)

Kramnik was close to catastrophe in the opening. He can boast of only one game - the second game of the match. All the rest he played with clenched teeth. – Yevgeny Bareev

In London we saw that the new world champion prevented the last one from playing his natural game. To be more accurate, Kramnik made Kasparov feel too inhibited to play his normal, fearless game. Kasparov, for once, was weak psychologically when confronted by a resolute opponent who gave him absolutely no fear to feed off. – Jonathan Levitt

I mean when you feel that something goes wrong and when you feel that your opponent plays better than you at this moment and you have problems in every game, you simply go down psychologically. I mean this is so natural, and every chessplayer experiences it at least once in his life. I mean it's completely normal. And the other way around also. When you feel you play very well, you get much more positive, you're very spirited. – Vladimir Kramnik (on the psychological edge he had against Kasparov in their Braingames match)

I think the main reason is that I simply played better than him during this match. – Vladimir Kramnik (on why he defeated Kasparov in their 2001 WCC match)

It was effectively capitulation in the final games. I would love to know what was going through his mind. – Raymond Keene (on Kasparov's play in his match with Kramnik)

Kasparov played the kind of chess that was absolutely alien to him. – Vladimir Tukmakov

Basically, Kasparov was ambushed. Kramnik used a very good strategy and managed to carry it off. He’s not the first with the idea of trying to contain Kasparov as he did, but it’s another thing to be able to do it as well. – Viswanathan Anand

No doubt we will get around to calling it the Kramnik - Kasparov match once we get used to the fact that the King is dead, just as the Capablanca-Alekhine match is now referred to as Alekhine - Capablanca, and so on. – Chris Depasquale

I have paid tribute to the man who beat me and I have vowed that I will return and win back the title. – Garry Kasparov

He’s got to earn the right to play me again. I’ve told Brain Games that they have to stick by their contract of providing a proper structure to determine a challenger for my crown. – Vladimir Kramnik (on Kasparov)

And since I don’t think Mama Kramnikova raised any fools, I don’t think there will be a rematch. – Mig Greengard

Kasparov would get a shot at getting his title back and would probably play a title match with Kramnik for free in Washington Square Park if offered the chance. – Mig Greengard (on a possible rematch)

Hard to imagine him swallowing his pride and playing in the FIDE knockout, but "the people's ex-champ" doesn't have much of a ring to it, does it?? Oh well, that is his problem. – Tony Miles (on Kasparov)

Vladimir Kramnik has just won a very tough and very important match for him, but this match has nothing in common with World Championship at all. – Alexander Khalifman

If FIDE wants to organize its own events, let them do so, but the chess world will recognize that they will have nothing to do with a real world championship. The title is owned by the World Champion, not by an organization which has lost legitimacy. I stand at the end of a line, which started with Steinitz in 1886, and this will be so until I am defeated in a match. With FIDE I will have absolutely nothing to do, and what they say and do is irrelevant. – Garry Kasparov

I was really shocked when I read the last issue of the German magazine Schach. Germany is one of the major chess countries in the world and this magazine is very popular there. There is an interview with Vladimir Kramnik in the number 12 issue and it goes like this: 'How is it to be the World Champion?' Always World Champion. At no moment there is something like Braingames WC. Just World Champion, just like that. And an announcement: ‘In the next issue we’ll inform you about the FIDE Knockout spectacle!’ Not even FIDE World Championship but “knockout show”! Just like that. It’s incredible! And after that: 'We’ll tell you how to determine a World Champion in a democratic way.' What an irony! OK, it’s not 'democratic way', it’s just sport! It's not general elections of the World Champion. We just play chess here, nothing else. – Alexander Khalifman

To win in this championship you have to emerge alive from a river infested with crocodiles. – Viswanathan Anand (on the FIDE world championship knockout tournament)

On the one side we have a player, currently number 2 in the rating list, who won the World title in a fair and square struggle against the world's best 100 professional players who had themselves passed through a tough and rigorously objective qualification system; on the other side a number 3 player who was selected by the virtue of having lost a qualification match and after having robbed his fellow-grandmaster of both his money and legitimate rights to dispute a match against the PCA-WCC-BGN champion. – Valery Salov

Of course, it’s changed days at the top with Anand and Kramnik having world titles of one description or another, and Kasparov out in the cold, his only comfort being his undisputed world No.1 spot - thanks to his good friends at FIDE. – John Henderson

Of course, now there are two World Champions, and you could argue for a long time as to which title has greater credibility. This is a result of the Kasparov - Short match in 1993, when they left the FIDE and set up the PCA. Let’s put it this way: neither title is what the one used to be. There would be more prestige to a title if everyone recognized it. – Viswanathan Anand

I share the opinion of both these players: live and let live. Vishy is FIDE world champion and played super tournaments in Delhi and Teheran. Vladimir has broken the supremacy of the strongest player for the last 15 years. Taking into consideration tradition, it is logical that he too regards himself as world champion and feels like a champion. Therefore, we currently have two champions, Kasparov, who is as strong as an ox, and a few young grandmasters who also have great potential. This generates a lot of tension and interest. What is wrong with that? In boxing there are up to four world champions in each weight division. From time to time they challenge each other. These are the really big fights. – Peter Leko

Everybody has their own opinion of the current state of affairs: Kramnik, Anand, me, and probably everybody in this room. We now have two world champions of equal strength. Kramnik has 120 years of tradition behind him; Anand has an organization (FIDE). I recognize only Kramnik as the world champion, as he defeated me to become it. To become world champion you have beat your predecessor; the name of the organization, be it FIDE, PCA, Braingames or Pepsi doesn’t matter. That way you are part of a tradition of a title, which has only had fourteen holders in almost 120 years. – Garry Kasparov

We won’t be able to amuse ourselves with the idea of "two champions" for long. – Garry Kasparov

Chess is thriving. There are ever less round robin tournaments and ever more World Champions. – Robert Hübner

Winning the world title comes with certain responsibilities. The longer he waits, the less value his title will have. Kramnik may have some dreams of his own, but he has to take account of economic realities. Money does not grow on trees, or fall from the sky; he must take account of what people are willing to pay money for, and I believe that they are most willing to pay for a rematch between Kramnik and myself. Kramnik also has a moral obligation to play me, but it seems as if the new generation has little respect for moral obligations. – Garry Kasparov

There's this terrible rift in chess. The world chess championship is a disputed title. You've almost got a situation like boxing. Speaking as a member of the chess world, it's extremely undignified. – Yasser Seirawan

For nearly nine years fans and players alike have sought after a return to a stable qualification cycle and only one person on the planet who answered when you called the world champion to dinner. – Mig Greengard

Maybe Kramnik would like to be remembered as the world champion who brought the chess world back together? It's a tough call. Would you prefer to go down in history like Alekhine, who held the title for over a decade but is just as well known for dodging Capablanca after beating him for the title, or like Euwe, who gave a rematch to Alekhine just two years after taking the title and is best known for being a true gentleman? – Mig Greengard

What's up with this "win a title, join the witness protection program" routine? Say what you will about Karpov and Kasparov, but they were out there on the circuit knocking heads year in, year out. – Mig Greengard

Today Kramnik has to make a very brave decision. It seems to me that he was mislead by so-called negotiations, by the idea of a reunification match that is nothing more but FIDE and Ilyumzhinov’s political trick. If Kramnik manages to find the right algorithm of behavior, then, I believe, we will be able to start building a parallel structure with the idea of establishing some professional association in the future. I am sure that it is impossible to do it on the basis suggested by FIDE, as today the latter is practically controlled by a private organization. – Garry Kasparov

After playing in the Dutch tournament last week, Alexei, welcome to Linares! – Garry Kasparov (when Shirov had to face all the top players in the second part of Wijk aan Zee, after an easy first part against the lowest rated participants)

If it was fixed, how come I lost? – Garry Kasparov

When I met Shirov in Wijk aan Zee I talked to him and asked that he apologize. I said: ‘Alexei, one can get worked up and this is understandable but now it is time to admit your mistake.’ He didn’t give me any clear answer - and after this I couldn’t shake his hand before the game. I’m sorry to say that for the first time in my life I had to disregard this fine tradition. – Garry Kasparov

I would accept even the softest form of apology or retraction. But he's preferred to ignore me. This situation could never arise in tennis - he would be fined so much he would forget how to open his mouth. – Garry Kasparov

Even in the worst times, we shook hands. – Anatoly Karpov (on Kasparov)

I got a friendly wind in my sails and the rest was nearly automatic. – Garry Kasparov (on Linares 2001)

So, the old guy can still play! – Garry Kasparov (after his defeat of Ponomariov at Linares 2002)

A doping problem does not exist in the chess world. Not yet. But when doping tests are introduced, prominent chess players will be forced to take the advice of medicine men who can tell them how much coffee they may drink and if their nose drops are on the black list. And once these contacts are established, it will be only natural to ask the medicine man if he can give some help improving the performance. When there will be doping tests in the chess world, there will be doping. – Hans Ree

A chess player who would discredit the chess world by submitting to these humiliating procedures, deserves to be expelled from it, greased with tar and feathers, and avoided like a leper. – Hans Ree (on drug tests for chess players)

His decision to grab some cash under the table from FIDE and ditch the 3K Botvinnik Memorial for the FIDE KO is just the latest jab in a career of back-stabbing and money-grubbing. Come on, Karpov even led the press conference for the 3K tournament a few weeks before jumping ship! Only a pygmy limbo champion could get any lower than this. I'm not saying he's the first unscrupulous, unprincipled weasel to ever appear on the chess scene, nor will he be the last. Kasparov had his opportunistic rapprochement with Campomanes after years of kicking him in the shins. Fischer was principled, but it turned out he holds some rather disgusting principles. Alekhine avoided Capablanca like a congressman avoids opening his mail. But Karpov's latest might just put him in the lead of this dubious race. – Mig Greengard (on Karpov withdrawing from the 3K's event to play in the FIDE 2001 WCC tournament)

In the chess world those who have kept their senses, are fighting a rear-guard action, it often seems. – Hans Ree

Lord knows it seems like what goes on at the board these days is the sideshow and what goes on off it the main event. – Mig Greengard

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