If you have disabled Java for your browser, use the Site Map (linked in the header and footer).

Chessville
logo by
ChessPrints
 

Advertise
with
Chessville!!

Advertise to
thousands
of chess
fans for
as little
as $25.

Single insert:
$35
x4 insert:
@ $25 each.

From the
Chessville
Chess Store

From the
Chessville
Chess Store

Chess Quotations

Penny For Your Thoughts?

It is remarkable what lengths the human mind will go to justify doing what it wanted in the first place. – Peter Svidler

Chess and theater often lead to madness. – Arrabal

Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination. – G. K. Chesterton

Chess, as a pastime, is a grand game, but to go deeply into it, as we have to, means a sure breakdown. – Frank Marshall

Chess is so interesting in itself, as not to need the view of gain to induce engaging in it; and thence it is never played for money. – Benjamin Franklin

Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game. – Wilhelm Steinitz

A man that will take back a move at chess will pick a pocket. – Richard Fenton

Having a reputation as a good sport is as important as having a reputation as a good player. – Dan Heisman

You know, comrade Pachman, I don't enjoy being a Minister; I would rather play chess like you, or make a revolution in Venezuela. – Che Guevara

Aesthetics may not be indispensable for playing good chess, but might well be necessary for playing great chess. – Elie Agur

A sophisticated aesthetic sense and appreciation of chess beauty go hand in hand with top class play. – Jonathan Levitt

At the start of a game of chess, two equal armies stand facing each other across the board. There is a balance between the forces (and resources) available to Black and White. With good play, that balance is maintained. After a serious blunder, the balance is upset and the other side obtains a winning position. There have been many grandmaster games where a symmetrical type of position is reached, the pieces come off and the game heads inexorably towards a draw. Such games fail to capture the interest since, although balance is maintained throughout, there is no tension. It is far more exciting when there is a balance between conflicting elements after for example, a sacrifice. Perhaps then there could be a balance between initiative and material. Broadly speaking, the greater the tension and the longer the balance is maintained, the more 'interesting' the game. – Jonathan Levitt

To play a game of chess is really just one way of carrying on an argument. – David Bronstein

A game of chess is not an examination of knowledge; it is a battle of nerves. – David Bronstein

A game conducted logically and finished off with a beautiful combination - that is my chess ideal. – Vladimir Simagin

Here, I believe, we are at the crux of the distinction between the best played game and the brilliancy. The one adheres to the principle of precision, the other to the principle of imagination. Science vs. Art, if you will. – Raymond Stonkus (on a discussion of some of the immortal games of the 19th Century)

Satisfaction only comes from a game that is well played from beginning to end. – John Donaldson

I prefer to lose a really good game than to win a bad one. – David Levy

If it were just a question of winning or losing, if it were not possible to play a brilliant game, to make an incredible queen sacrifice, to play the occasional shocking or outrageous move, then I suspect many people would not play chess. It simply would not be worth it; such a difficult game and with so few rewards. – Jonathan Levitt

The beauty of a game of chess is usually assessed according to the sacrifices it contains. – Rudolf Spielmann

The game really begins when Tal opens a file, Korchnoi grabs a pawn, or Kasparov starts a combination. – Andrew Soltis

I console myself with pleasure that chess fans, spectators and readers are happy only when grandmasters risk rather than just push wood. – Mikhail Tal

After we have paid our dutiful respects to such frigid virtues as calculation, foresight, self-control and the like, we always come back to the thought that speculative attack is the lifeblood of chess. – Fred Reinfeld

It's good that you lost your match in Baguio. Had you won, I'm not sure you would have left the Philippines alive. – Mikhail Tal (to Korchnoi)

I think that most important is the ability to able to be consistent. Everybody has huge variation trees on their computers at home, but it’s also about being able to maintain your concentration for the entire tournament, and in one tournament after another.
– Viswanathan Anand

The stomach is an essential part of the chess master. – Bent Larsen

It's not unreasonable to pay a bonus to the top stars. They draw a lot of fan attention regardless of how they perform in the event. But prize money should be a big motivation factor in a sport where the players don't get big bucks for shoe deals and Gatorade commercials. – Mig Greengard

If top players were dependent on spectators for their income then all but Kasparov and Judit Polgar would starve and even they would have to tighten their belts considerably. – Nigel Davies

Nevertheless I have raised four children decently. You shouldn't do that. Raise children, yes. But not from chess.
– Jacques Davidson (on his impoverished life as a chess professional)

The fact is that in the Western World chess is treated without much respect. If you tell someone you're a chess Grandmaster over here they still wonder (perhaps rightly) what it is that you do for a living. – Nigel Davies

The fact is that in Russia there is tremendous respect for both chess and chessplayers, which is why it has produced so many great players. To be a chessplayer in Russia means something, so people will work to do it. – Nigel Davies

I have always found postal players to be a bit out of touch with the realities surrounding chess understanding - they usually feel that their form of chess is better, more pure, more accurate, and…(their self congratulations seems to go on and on and on). My angst towards postal chess began when I read that many postal aficionados honestly felt that a postal World Champion would beat an over-the-board World Champion in a postal game. The postal caste never seemed to realize that their understanding of chess as a whole was so far below any over-the-board World Champion’s as to make the argument virtually laughable. – Jeremy Silman

Correspondence chess is the perfect form of the game. – Ward

Over-the-board chess is the favorite of mortals; correspondence chess is the favorite of the gods. – Eduard Dyckhoff

For a correspondence chess player, life is literally an uninterrupted game of chess. – Eduard Dyckhoff

The winner of a correspondence chess tournament is the one who gets the least amount of sleep. – Source Unknown

In correspondence play the personality of one's opponent counts for little or nothing. – Graham Mitchell

The technique of good correspondence chess lies in playing good moves. – Graham Mitchell

Checkmates don't work if there's no one answering the door. – Source Unknown (on correspondence chess)

You'll know there is a problem with computers and correspondence chess when everyone is rated 2450. – John C. Knudsen

Such people are immoral, unethical, and I hope they do it! – Stephan Gerzadowicz (on players who use a computer to generate moves in CC games)

All strong correspondence players agree that computer programs can be of some help, but by far not as much as people often think. The longer the thinking time, the better a human will do against a computer, and in correspondence chess a computer not steered by human strategy would be a below-average player. – Hans Ree

I don’t see how anyone has the time for postal chess. – David Levy

Correspondence chess and over-the-board chess compliment each other. – Alexander Alekhine

Postal chess is an excellent way to test new moves or ideas. – William Howell

Only in correspondence chess can an amateur chess player, earning his living in another profession, even attain master class level of play. – Walter Muir

The advantage of the first move is increased rather that diminished in correspondence chess. – Adrian Hollis

Those who can benefit from consultation usually do. – Ken Messere

In correspondence play the personality of ones opponent counts for little or nothing. – Graham Mitchell

It is not unusual in a game played by mail to have a player resign because he sees a pretty combination coming to life - in the mind of his opponent. – Irving Chernev

Correspondence chess should be played for it’s own sake. – C. J. S. Purdy

Correspondence chess has one great advantage on over-the-board play, in that, normally, you can choose the time and place to work on it. – Allen Sheldon

The bane of correspondence chess is the clerical error. – Walter Muir

Eagle eyed correspondence chess players take nothing for granted. – Irving Chernev

Postal chess players depend less on intuition than on genuine analytical ability. – Irving Chernev

Correspondence chess is not only a school for technique or an academy for virtuosity; it is a discipline of deep thought, of research, of tenacity. There is no place for the easy and convenient draw by agreement, but there is always the torment of the search for the best. – Mario Napolitano

Correspondence play is the highest quality chess, for the most part superior to OTB play in every aspect of the game. Furthermore, good postal players make the best annotators, since in analyzing each move deeply before sending it they are in effect annotating the game as they play it. – Taylor Kingston

The sign of a great master is his ability to win a won game quickly and painlessly. – Irving Chernev

Pressure has a special significance in master vs. amateur games. – Max Euwe

No one - not even Morphy or Capablanca - ever rose to the top of this stellar game without total commitment. But to say otherwise can make for a good story, and some of these fairy tales, when spun by expert fashioners, may actually broaden one’s understanding of the game. At least that’s the theory, but I can’t help thinking how much stronger many of us might be if writers, analysts, teachers, and especially players, used their skills to tell the truth. – Bruce Pandolfini

What distinguishes a Grandmaster from a master? Chess-lovers often ask questions like that. To many people it seems that Grandmasters simply calculate variations a little deeper. Or that they know their opening theory slightly better. But in fact the real difference is something else. You can pick out two essential qualities in which those with higher titles are superior to others: the ability to sense the critical moment in a game, and a finer understanding of various positional problems. – Artur Yusupov

A lot of the difference between an IM and GM is a seriousness to the game. The GM is willing to go through all this. He's willing to put up with anything. This shows his dedication. One other thing is the GMs superiority in tactics. For example Christiansen can find tactics in any position. If you're a GM you should be able to overpower the IM tactically. The GM will often blow out the IM in this area. – Nick de Firmian

One of the main aims has been to highlight the differences in approach between a Grandmaster and a weaker player, and to try and narrow the gap. To some extent this comes down to technical matters - more accurate analysis, superior opening knowledge, better endgame technique and so forth; but in other respects the difference goes deeper and many readers will find that they need to rethink much of their basic attitude to the game. One example of this would be the tremendous emphasis which is placed on the dynamic use of the pieces, if necessary at the expense of the pawn structure, or even of material. This is no mere question of style; it is a characteristic of the games of all the great players. – Peter Griffiths

It is often supposed that, apart from their "extraordinary powers of memory", expert players have phenomenal powers of calculation. The beginner believes that experts can calculate dozens of moves ahead and he will lose to them only because he cannot calculate ahead so far. Yet this is utter nonsense. From my own experience I can say that grandmasters do not do an inordinate amount of calculating. Tests (notably de Groot's experiments) supports me in this claim. If anything, grandmasters often consider fewer alternatives. They tend not to look at as many possible moves as weaker players do. And so, perversely, chess skill often seems to reflect the ability to avoid calculations. It is, in truth, not clear that chess is a game of calculation. Of course there are times when intense calculation is called for, and often the master is better at dealing with these situations than the amateur. No wonder, he has had more practice than the amateur, but all the same his innate calculating ability need not be any greater. Most of the time it is something quite different that is required in chess, something more akin to "understanding" or "insight". – David Norwood

Where a mediocre chess player sees ten moves to continue his game, a master may see only two or three. He discards the others as not of sufficient merit. The further the master progresses in skill and foresight the more he is restricted in his choice of moves. It is very similar in other machees. If a mediocre pianist plays a piece before a musical audience he will imagine that he is able to execute his task in a variety of styles. But for Rosenthal or Paderewski only one way of rendering the piece will exist. The higher the class of the artist, the less is his liberty. – Emanuel Lasker

It may be that stronger players actually consider more 'stupid' moves than weaker ones - dismissing most of them, but not ruling them out without a glance! It may be that this is the only possible explanation for, say, some of Tal's moves. – Simon Webb

For a patzer to become a GM is a hopeless case! – Leonid Shamkovich

A patzer must realize that he will not become a GM. – Vladimir Liberzon

A grandmaster needs to retain thousands of games in his head, for games are to him what the words of their mother tongue are to ordinary people, or notes or scores to musicians. – Garry Kasparov

It is unequivocal that depth of calculation cannot be the prime distinguishing characteristic between the grandmaster and the expert player. – Adrian de Groot

The modern Grandmaster is a classical player on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and a student of hypermodern theory on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. On Sunday he is neither, but is praying to his God that someone, preferably himself, will find the reconciliation between the two views. – Paraphrased from Norbert Wiener

Rome and sport, more than other factors, have formulated my attitude to the competitive process. I share the conviction of the Romans, that victory in battle is granted by the immortal gods and is therefore outside the will of the commander. It is the same in a chess battle. Without at all pretending to resolve the philosophical question regarding the relationship between free will and predetermination, I will risk proposing that the result of a chess game depends considerably less on the efforts of a player, than is customarily thought. Therefore the task of a chess commander reduces to trying to find the best of the possible moves, without worrying about the result. – Grigory Levenfish

It merely attracts attention and encourages the winner to demonstrate the mistake to anyone who is interested. – Gary Lane (on reacting to a loss by scattering the pieces from the board)

It is impossible to win gracefully at chess. No man yet has said "mate" in a voice which failed to sound to his opponent bitter, boastful and malicious. – A. A. Milne

Moral victories do not count. – Saviely Tartakower

A chess player who resigns gracefully never intended to win anyway. – Bill Wall

Winning isn't everything, but losing is nothing. – Edmar Mednis (on the importance of fighting for a draw)

I hate anyone who beats me. – Lisa Lane

You cannot play chess if you are kind. – French proverb

People are governed by the head; a kind heart is of little value in chess. – Nicolas Chamfort

There is no room for gallantry in chess. – Irving Chernev

When you defeat someone at chess, it costs nothing to be polite. – Javier Gil

Chess is not for the timid. – Irving Chernev

Undoubtedly numerous games are won by judicious forelaying among strong players, for all their posing as if their victories were the fruit of direct purpose. – William Norwood Potter

It's a rare GM who, after his magnificent victory, will come out and say, "Yeah, it was a nice game, but I really didn't have a clue what was going on there for a while. I just made what I thought was the best move at the moment, I'm glad it worked out." I know for sure that every chess player in the world, GM and patzer both, have thought during a game, "Hmm, I hope I'm winning here." – Mig Greengard

Due to Tarrasch, an idea grew up that is still prevalent nowadays, the idea that there are the so-called logical games in which one side carries out a logical plan from beginning to end rather like a theorem in geometry. I do not think that there are such games between opponents of the same strength and the annotator who gives that impression is often the winner of the game who makes out that what happened is what he wanted to happen. – David Bronstein

You know, all these lofty matters we have been studying - strategy and endless opening subtleties - are not the main thing. The match will be decided, first and foremost, by our calculation reflexes during play, or, as they say, who is better at doing 'you go there and I go here,' and no one knows how his mind will behave. – Tigran Petrosian

Personally, I am of the view that if a strong master does not see such a threat at once he will not notice it, even if he analyses the position for twenty or thirty minutes. – Tigran Petrosian

One cannot play chess if one becomes aware of the pieces as living souls and of the fact that the Whites and the Blacks have more in common with each other than with the players. Suddenly one loses all interest in who will be champion. – Anotol Rapoport

Seventy years ago, Capablanca was occasionally coming up with whole new strategic approaches to certain types of position. But today? I am not convinced that anybody does more than tinker with, rearrange and manipulate the known ideas and elements. On a lower level, ‘minor’ creativity is rife, even essential to good play, but major new conceptions are incredibly rare. – Jonathan Levitt

Perhaps, Orthodox Christianity is not very compatible with the spirit of fighting, of professional sport in general? It surprises me very much sometimes how people manage to combine such religious views with chess. On the contrary, Judaism is different. It is, of course, very competitive. – Valery Salov

Chess is a contest between two men in which there is considerable ego-involvement. In some way it certainly touches upon the conflicts surrounding aggression, homosexuality, masturbation and narcissism which become particularly prominent in the anal-phallic phases of development. From the standpoint of id psychology, Jones' observations can therefore be confirmed, even enlarged upon. Genetically, chess is more often than not taught to the boy by his father, or a father-substitute, and thus becomes a means of working out the son-father rivalry. – Reuben Fine (the man who put the 'anal' into analysis)

If you play a game and learn something, then you are better; the more you learn, the better you are. Since you cannot practice good thinking techniques and learn to burn patterns into your long-term memory in fast games, most practice time should be in slow games (on the Internet, at least give yourself 30 minutes); use fast games to practice openings or to relax once in a while, not as a steady diet. I always tell my students, “The world’s best fast players are also for the most part the world’s best slow players, and they learned to play well by playing slow games!" – Dan Heisman

Skittles are the social glasses of chess - indulged in too freely they lead to inebriation, and weaken the consistent effort necessary to build up a strong game. – André Philidor

For a while, it is quite addictive but after a time this form of chess can come to seem rather pointless. – Tim Harding (on blitz chess)

Blitz kills ideas. – Bobby Fischer

I feel uncomfortable playing over blunderful games, and there's nothing to be learned from them. I say save the fast time limits for exhibitions and let the best players give us their best stuff in important events without having to worry about the clock even before they get their pieces out. Haste makes waste. – Burt Hochberg

While fast games are fun and not completely worthless, the one requirement for serious improvement is to learn "how to think" habits. – Dan Heisman

Who are the best fast chess players in the world? The best slow players. So how did Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, etc. get to be the best fast players in the world, by playing slow or playing fast? The answer is by playing slow, so you should too if you really wish to improve. – Dan Heisman

It's sad to realize that there are people who think that chess is only a 5-minute game and miss the beauty, creativity, logic, and depth of slow games. Blitz is fine for those who enjoy it, and it has its place, but it's the fast food version of our game - McChess in my book. – Kelly Atkins

Indeed, the most persuasive argument against sudden-death time controls is that it seems to mimic the world epidemic of attention-deficit disorder. – Robert Morrell

It is bad for chess; there’s no point to it. It is unacceptable! – Vladimir Kramnik (on FIDE's faster time controls)

I regard the current time control as ideal, and I believe it should remain unaffected. We play good serious chess and besides we have rapid chess and blitz tournaments. More activities should be organized of the latter type as they provide a great show for spectators. However, tournaments with classical time control should form the backbone, in order to prevent a decline in the level of performance. FIDE intends to make chess a shabby and elementary sport, which would have nothing to do with art and science. – Vladimir Kramnik

The fact that the 7 hours time control allows us to play a great deep game is no longer of great importance for mass media. – Alexei Shirov

Seven hours was healthier. But I mean, would I like to go back to five hours and adjournments, or to whatever was before that? It's all possible, but the state of constant time trouble is simply unnecessary. There is nothing calling for it. – Peter Svidler

We are witnessing the decay and disgrace of chess as evidenced by the decisions of the Presidential Council regarding the change of time control in official FIDE events. This will affect both chess traditions and foundations on one hand, and the beauty and quality of chess games on the other. – Anatoly Karpov

I have no doubt that the reduction of time control is quite a far-fetched decision. There is no way chess will receive immediate coverage on TV, and in order to obtain coverage in reviews and other programs it is necessary to create good games. Anyway, we won’t draw the people who are ignorant of chess, but simultaneously we run the risk of losing the audience that knows a thing or two about this game. – Boris Gelfand

There is no television appeal for a four-hour game whatsoever. Same as for a seven-hour game, so why ruin something that was working perfectly well? – Peter Svidler

What is missing in chess is respect by some officials for what the people involved want. Likewise some of the so-called decision-makers do not feel the need to involve the leading grandmasters in very important decisions. For instance, the new time control rules do not make any sense. Currently we have classic chess and rapid chess. Both disciplines could be more firmly established and be exploited commercially with the help of the world association. However, the new discipline can neither be classified as classic chess nor as rapid chess. It is a rival to the existing formats and damages them - without any good reason! It is obvious that this game is being determined by a lot of personal interests and by political issues. This has very little to do with the necessary degree of professionalization in a top sport. – Peter Leko

Reduced time control forces chess players to make superficial decisions. Chess is constantly losing its depth. The predictability of the results is waning, and players’ intuition starts to play the main role. This idea changes the very substance of chess. – Viacheslav Eingorn

I have always been against slow time controls and was one of the first players to oppose adjournments. Adjournments come down to which player has the better computer. You have to consider the exigencies of modern play. Rounds have to start on time. But fast time limits can go too far. Five-minute games in serious events are ridiculous. – Arthur Bisguier

This is much nicer than normal chess. The public loves it, and so do the players, for they are not suffering now, like in classical chess. For every mistake there is the excuse of shortage of time. Immediate action is required at every moment and the worms of doubt will not get the time to eat you. – Predrag Nikolic (on the Hoogovens blitz tournament)

I hate the 'classical' 40-in-2 time control. But if chess is a sport, which it seems to be nowadays, the time control has to be speeded up. But it can go too far and turn chess into a spectacle. When a player hangs his queen it's hilarious. – Andy Soltis

In my opinion, the old system was the best: with the Interzonals and candidates' matches. – Boris Gulko

From my point of view the ideal and most fair form of a chess competition is the normal round-robin. With the addition of rapid chess, the element of chance comes in. – Boris Gulko

The World Championship title is one that should be played in a serious manner, and not one that’s played over 2, 4 or 6 games. These are not world championship matches. We need to get back to reality - back to basics. Perhaps not the 24 games that Kasparov and myself played over, but maybe 14-18 games. This would be acceptable. There’s also no point in having 100 players playing for the World Championship. We know that there are only ten or so players out there that should contest the crown. It would be more practical if we had a sort of old-fashioned Candidates system to sort the mess out. – Anatoly Karpov

Instead of the world champion as the dominant player of the period, we are now seeing the idea that any strong player who is having a good week or two can be world champion. – Garry Kasparov

You can’t attract sponsors, you can’t sell the idea to the public, unless you have the idea that the winner of the event is the strongest player in the world and that it was a fair contest. I do not really buy into the statements that the world champion was not always the best player. Lasker didn’t play in all the matches he should have, but he won almost all the big tournaments. There were a few moments in the mid-1960s with Petrosian; maybe he wasn’t the best player, but Spassky was, Fischer was, Karpov was. Euwe is not regarded as having been stronger than Alekhine, but he beat him in a match of 30 games for the title so no one can deny that Alekhine had a fair chance to display his superiority. – Garry Kasparov

As in music and art, the classical heritage is crucial to development of modern currents in chess. – Garry Kasparov

I believe that without classical chess the game will fade into oblivion. – Garry Kasparov

I am happy to hear Seirawan saying that it is important to draw Kramnik and Ponomariov to the table before anything can be accomplished. Anyone who opposes these attempts to find a solution to the current crisis is doing a disservice to the game. – Garry Kasparov (on Seirawan's suggestions on reunifying the chess title)

Before we can go forward with any proposals it must be clear that there is a consensus on two things: the continued existence of classical chess and the importance of having a world champion with a legitimate claim to being the number one player. – Garry Kasparov

I have always said that the knockout system is not an ideal scheme. And I hope the system which is going to replace it will be a stepping stone to a fairer scheme of identifying the champion. – Alexander Khalifman

I believe in tradition in chess and I believe that all chess championships must be decided in a final match between the two best players in the world and they must prove that they are the best players. One is world champion and the other one is the best from all the challengers. I believe in this tradition. I think its good to keep it and that's what I'm trying to do. – Vladimir Kramnik

The current situation in the chess world is quite chaotic: I am a traditional person and so I support the idea that the World Championship cycle should be played for in a tournament between the world best players. To clarify this situation I think that the Braingames Candidates event to take place in Dortmund in 2002 will be very positive. The winner of this tournament will play against me for the WC Title. I think it is time already to establish a fair system, which gives opportunities to the best players and receives approval from the chess world and general public. In this sense a revenge match now with Kasparov would only damage this process. – Vladimir Kramnik

I cannot regard any event as a true chess world championship that involves rapid-play tiebreak. The tradition of the world championship has always been that the best player is decided by a lengthy head-to-head contest under optimum conditions. The 40 moves in 150 minutes time limit (with adjournments for very long games) gives the players time to think and find the best moves they can at all stages and (hopefully) give the world an exhibition of how chess at its very best can be played. The duration of the match should be a minimum of 12 games to give the players a chance to test their opponents' opening repertoires and to give time to recover from an early defeat. – Tim Harding

Even advanced multinomial tiebreaks are better than the embarrassment of rapid or blitz tiebreaks after a tough and interesting tournament. – Mig Greengard

How can the winner of a one-month knockout tournament - in which the winner might only face one player from the top 10 - be equated to Alekhine-Capablanca, Fischer-Spassky, Kasparov-Karpov, or the grueling candidates cycles that started in 1950? – Mig Greengard

It is an utter travesty to call this kind of rubbish a world championship. – Malcolm Pein (on the time controls of the 2002 FIDE Championship match between Ponomariov & Ivanchuk)

Saying that the FIDE KO provides the "common man" with a chance at THE world championship title is complete bull when the title it offers has nothing to do with the title that is so revered. You can’t say that now everyone will have a chance to own a Rolls Royce and then give away a Hyundai. Calling Khalifman the 14th champion (instead of the 1st or 2nd FIDE KO champion) means FIDE is appropriating the power of the legendary champions of the past in order to sell something that completely destroys part of what made those champions legends to begin with. The title as known before 1997 was great simply because of how damn hard it was to attain. 13 champions in 111 years! Now they want to switch to a system that will create a dozen winners in 20 years and call it the same title? The bottom line is that if you make it easier, more accessible, more "democratic," then it ceases to be THE title and we are talking apples and oranges. – Mig Greengard

That rapid events exist and are popular is not a reason to eliminate chess as we know it. 99.999% of professional chess games are viewed long after they are finished, meaning the quality is much more important than the entertainment value (real or imagined) of live viewing. – Mig Greengard

Chess is, after all, one of the greatest intellectual challenges devised by Man and its supreme prize should be decided by who can out-think his opponent, not by who can shift wood fastest and punch the clock quickest in a blitz finish. – Tim Harding

There's classical chess and there's a rapid chess. I think that these two things shouldn't mix, because it's not so sensible. – Peter Leko

And as for advanced chess, it’s simply inadmissible! It’s a road to nowhere. Chess loses its mysticism. Nobody will consider chess as an art. It’s a pity that it’s the very champion who destroys chess. – Bent Larsen

Personally, I hate the damn thing because it changes the very nature of the game. – Alex Yermolinsky (on the Fischer clock)

I think chess should focus on its cultural component. Let’s compare it with classical music. This music has a select audience. Nobody tries to overstep the limits, because he or she fully realizes that doing so would risk losing its own spectators without attracting others. We should purposefully work with our own audience, with the people who value traditions, to whom the names of Steinitz, Botvinnik, Tal, Fischer, mean a great deal. By ruining tradition we will alienate these people. Without a doubt, the knockout championships are not perceived by public opinion as the world championship; consequently the names of these champions are known only by a narrow circle of chess fans. I have nothing against the official FIDE world championships, but public opinion just does not interpret them as such. It is impossible to break more than a century-old tradition within two or three years. The idea that the world championship definitely consists of a match, a serious qualifying cycle, a classical time control, is deeply ingrained in people’s minds. There is neither need nor benefit in ruining this idea. – Vladimir Kramnik

Strategically speaking, chess should not drift toward becoming just a bare sport. This approach has no future. I understand FIDE’s logic and motives, but this is the road to an impasse. Chess will never be more popular than either soccer or tennis, because this game is too complex. In order to enjoy it, a spectator should know some rudiments of the sport. In chess, this level is quite high. I would say it is at about a 1700 rating. In order to reach this level starting from scratch, one should spend a lot of time. Even the basic rules (such the moves of the pieces) are not easy to memorize at once. Mass spectators will always seek after simpler and more spectacular sports. – Vladimir Kramnik

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that the people who really enjoy chess are the dubs and the duffers, experts who have resigned their ambitions, those who play only for pastime, and, of course, the great fraternity of the kibitzers. – Alfred Kreymborg

Chess doesn't need to be popularized in America - it's already popular. – Steve Lopez

Friends, we're the best publicity chess has. Kasparov can play all the exhibition simuls he wants to against sports figures and musicians, and that's great. But Garry can't be everywhere at once. We can. We're the ambassadors for chess. – Steve Lopez

We (the average Joes and Janes with our 1100 to 1900 ratings) are absolutely the best hope for getting this game noticed and attracting new players to it. We'll do it by getting out there where people can see us, talk to us, and play with us, by bringing chess to them instead of waiting for them to come to us. – Steve Lopez

And some people just have this vague nebulous idea that anyone who doesn't spend hours poring intently over a battered copy of MCO, who doesn't know the names of at least thirty different openings on sight, who doesn't know how to mate with a Rook and King against a lone King, and doesn't truck on down to the chess club at least every other week isn't really a chessplayer. A chessplayer is anyone who knows how the pieces move. And anyone who doesn't is a potential chessplayer. – Steve Lopez

Don't refuse to play someone because of your personal prejudices. I'll be blunt - I don't give a damn what color someone's skin is, what religion they are, what country they're from, what gender they are, what their sexual preferences are. I'll play anybody. We're talking about a short game of chess here, not some sort of lifelong commitment. If you have personal prejudices, I'm sorry. Please put them aside for a half-hour, OK? Play the game. Don't be insulting. Don't be condescending. Just be civil. Nobody's asking you to marry your daughter off to a purple bug-eyed Satan-worshipping heathen pod alien from the planet Pervo (or whatever other specific ethnic, racial, or religious group hacks you off) - just play a little chess. – Steve Lopez

It's odd, but when you play a very hotly contested game against someone, you often form a strong bond with that person. There are people I played once nearly a decade ago who still greet me very warmly when I run into them or when they send me an e-mail, and I do the same in return. As somebody once put it: "Push a pawn, make a friend". – Steve Lopez

My chess friends are young and old, white and black, men and women; there is no discrimination over the chessboard. – Vlad Vainberg

Had it not been for chess I should never have met some of the extraordinary men and women, in many walks of life, whose acquaintance has enriched my days. Among them I count some of my best friends - reason enough for me to be grateful to the game. – Edward Lasker

We must make sure that chess will not be like a dead language, very interesting, but for a very small group. – Sytze Faber

We are amongst those who would be glad to see the ancient game burst through the barriers of social rank and gladden every walk of life, so that the handicraftsman and the laborer, after the day's toil, might find pleasure in a recreation which would give them no headache next day, and would leave their pockets in a satisfactory condition. – William Norwood Potter

Personally I am convinced that the future of chess is mainly a participation activity in which the part that chess plays in anyone's life is equally valid. I like the old Indian proverb which says: "Chess is a sea in which the elephant may bathe and the gnat may drink." I do not think that the elephants have a right to tell the gnats how interesting it will be for them to watch from the shore as they clumsily prance around in the water. – Nigel Davies

Today's chess events have no integrity: different time controls (most of which are too short and chancy), intrusion of computers, half-serious exhibition events. Who's watching over us? Nobody. Chess players swallow their pride, sign the contract and perform in empty rooms decorated by corporate banners. Chess at high Elo level has never been so detached from its rank-and-file supporters. – Alex Yermolinsky

When you start a chess game with someone, you're making a commitment, believe it or not. You're saying to your opponent, "Yes, I want to play a game with you," without any further conditions being attached. It's not "Yes, I'll play a game with you as long as I'm the one who wins". It's not "Yes, I'll play a game with you, but only until my position goes bad and then I'm leaving". It is "Yes, I'll play a game with you and I'll see it through to the end". Otherwise you're being dishonest with yourself and your opponent and you're doing both of you a disservice. Your opponent has decided to use a small portion of his life to play a game with you, so you owe it to him to finish the game. It doesn't matter who wins, it doesn't matter whether the game ends in checkmate, a draw, a resignation, or a loss on the clock. If you can't bear to see your King checkmated, that's fine - nobody's forcing you to be a masochist. But at least have the courtesy to resign the game. And leave off the profanity - if you lost because you made a mistake, that's your fault, not his, and he doesn't deserve to be sworn at just because he won. – Steve Lopez

It's time for people to start taking responsibility for themselves and quit this "victim" stuff. And it has to start somewhere. For those of us who are chessplayers, it's as simple as saying, "I resign" when we don't want to play on. I've done it, countless times in fact, and I'm still breathing. It doesn't kill you to say, "I resign" and then compliment your opponent on a well-played game, instead of tainting his victory by abusing him. – Steve Lopez

Lose with grace and resign in a timely manner. If you are a lot of material down and don't have sufficient compensation, it is time to lay down your arms. This way you show your respect for both chess and your opponent. – Svetlana Matveeva

Chess, like any creative activity, can exist only through the combined efforts of those who have creative talent, and those who have the ability to organize their creative work. – Mikhail Botvinnik

The work of a chess player is similar to a blast furnace process: it is continuous and demands a heated passion for chess. – Alexander Suetin

I don't believe all these stories of the Soviet study; they brag about these things. I think this is inner politics in the Soviet Union; you have to make it clear that you are a hard-working man. Kotov writes about all the many games you must study with at least one hour for each game; you cannot measure chess work in tons - so the best they can do is to explain it as so many working hours. – Bent Larsen

We must finish once and for all with the neutrality of chess. We must condemn once and for all the formula 'chess for the sake of chess,' like the formula 'art for art's sake.' We must organize shock-brigades of chessplayers, and begin the immediate realization of a Five-Year Plan for chess. – Nikolai V. Krylenko (People's Commissar for Justice of the USSR, speaking at a 1932 Congress of Chess Players)

What else is there for them to do? – Alexander Alekhine (on being asked about the popularity of chess among the Soviets in the 1920's)

Much though some of the world would like to believe that chess talent is a divine gift - lazy English school of thought - or the result of great education and training - Soviet school of superiority - it is clear that the simple hard work approach does work. – Tony Miles

I do not believe the Soviet players are more talented than the others; they are just more inclined to consider chess work than play. – Miguel Najdorf

This is the real contribution of the 20th century to chess theory, in which Soviet players have been dominant. Players look beyond the geometry of pawn formations and have moved to a more flexible and more dynamic style of play. There are no new general principles, because modern players do not believe in general principles. Players like Bronstein and Boleslavsky turned established ideas on their heads in the 1950s, championing Black's dynamic chances in the King's Indian and Sicilian. – Dave Regis

What had for generations been accepted as a weakness, such as a hole or an isolated pawn, was not weak unless or until the opponent began to attack it; a much smaller hostile weakness which could be attacked first was in fact a greater weakness. Thus the dynamic approach brought about a radical adjustment in the views on weakness and strength. It was no longer possible to measure one's weakness against those of one's opponent by the old method, but it was necessary to assess also the potentialities and speeds of the relative attacks. This called for a new degree of acute positional judgment, and in this, the Russian school has specially trained itself. – R. N. Coles

This was an extremely tense match. I remember that we battled with a fierceness that was unusual for training games. In several games there was a severe time scramble, which often led to blunders. Now, playing through these games, and experiencing as if anew all the changes of fortune in those encounters, I suddenly realized that such training games use up too much strength and nervous energy. It is quite possible that, when a month-and-a-half later Botvinnik sat down at the board with Smyslov, he had not managed to recover fully after our battles, and to some extent this may have affected the outcome of the match. – Yuri Averbakh (on a 1957 training match vs. Botvinnik)

Perhaps the area of chess we see the fewest changes in is the endgame. There are all kinds of new endgame theories, but the way to win when up a pawn now is essentially the same as it used to be. Some original endgame analyses are added to the lexicon every year, and occasionally a clever resource is found in a tricky endgame, but Philidor’s draw is still guaranteed. The outside passed pawn is still an advantage. The stronger king’s position was important then and it’s still important now. – Bruce Pandolfini

Other ideas have to do with certain middlegame strategies, such as temporarily accepting a poorly placed piece because of compensating advantages that equal or outweigh the problems incurred. In today’s thinking it’s de rigueur to assume hideous weaknesses to garner dynamic attacking prospects that stem from their acceptance. But these are not really new ideas. The older masters thought pretty much the same way. They simply had fewer examples from which to draw and the game needed much more accumulated experience before thinking about essentially the same things could evolve. Many of the most innovative opportunities were actually explored in the late 1800s and early 1900s but went unappreciated until contemporary eyes were able to judge them in hindsight and through new lenses. – Bruce Pandolfini

Although there is such a thing as Steinitz' theory, Lasker's interpretation thereof is something different and should rather be named 'Lasker's Theory.' – Richard Forster

I do not believe that any one opening move is stronger than all the rest, nor do I believe that there exists only one right way to treat the opening. Chess is too complex and multi-faceted for this - that’s not a phrase, but a conclusion, drawn from many years as a player, a trainer, and an analyst. – Mark Dvoretsky

The continual refinement of technique and assimilation of knowledge, particularly in the openings will gradually lead to the extinction of the game - it will be solved, played out. Most of the blame - if that is the word - must fall on the vast store of opening information that is available to every player (and every computer). The amount of study a master has to do to remain up to date in the openings would suffice for a college education. If he neglects his studies his score suffers. I think this corrupts the essential nature of chess, which is a fight between the creative ideas of two individuals. The vast array of predetermined opening variations and theories is, in my view, so much dead weight that should be discarded to save the true values of chess. The task, then, is to find a minimal change in the rules that would retain as much of the present game as possible and yet eliminate its worst feature, the overanalyzed starting position. – Pal Benko

You might think everything within the first few moves in a popular opening has been, like the Florida ballots, counted and re-counted by machines - and even held up to the light to reveal any holes. – Lev Alburt

Everything in chess that has been forgotten is new. – Viktor Korchnoi

If you want a new idea, read an old book. – Source Unknown

Chess is a scientific game and its literature ought to be placed on the basis of the strictest truthfulness, which is the foundation of all scientific research. – Wilhelm Steinitz

The game possesses a literature, which in content probably exceeds all other games combined. – Harold Murray

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 R. Capablanca

Knowledge is necessary but not sufficient, if one cannot apply it efficiently under real-time competitive conditions. To make an imperfect analogy, a player who understands, say, pawn structures, but can’t conduct an effective minority attack in a tournament game, is like a body-builder who understands physiology but can’t lift half his own weight, or a soldier who understands the mechanics of firearms and the chemistry of gunpowder, but can’t shoot well enough to hit his enemy in battle. Yet more chess instructional books in effect teach how a rifle or machine-gun works, rather than train one in how to use it in combat. – Taylor Kingston

Buying chess books is not a substitute for acquiring the necessary knowledge. – Andy Jolliffe

Ninety percent of chess books are not worth opening. – Lev Polugaevsky

Great writers must be dead. Their being alive is no good to us. On the contrary, because they are alive, there is something unfinished about their work. They may change their minds or give further explanations, spoiling their work. – Jan Hein Donner

Hear this. Chess has been studied to death. The theory of openings and endgames is so highly developed that the human brain can hardly fathom it. The death penalty should be given to those who go on writing instructional books. – From the Birmingham Mercury in 1906

So many people write chess books nowadays that we tend to look at moves or content and overlook that these people can't write. – Jeremy Silman

So many chess "writers" like to pretend that they are journalists, but most possess few, if any, writing skills. – Jeremy Silman

I have a love-hate relationship with Mr. Soltis. While working for Chess Digest, he wrote one horrible opening book after another, scrambling for his check with as much speed as possible. That’s the evil Soltis. The heroic Soltis is a completely different animal. This Soltis has imagination and the rare ability to actually teach. – Jeremy Silman

I have always considered Tal and Larsen to be the two best chess writers of all time. Both offered a perfect mix of moves, ideas variations and plans; both made frequent use of historical perspectives and anecdotes; and both injected so much energy and humor into their writing that every page became something rather special. – Jeremy Silman

Nimzowitsch became then for me more or less the author of the only book which could help me get away from these Euwe books, which, I admit, are very good for the ordinary club player. But once you've reached a certain strength you get the impression that everything that Euwe writes is a lie. – Bent Larsen

I buy a lot of chess books. It's an addiction. There ought to be a 12-step program for people who have this compulsion. Many of us buy a pile of chess books and never read them the whole way through. We start out with good intentions but lose interest somewhere around Chapter Four. – Steve Lopez

Chess "writing" can be strained and artificial. It typically consists of linking contrived judgments and superficial variations with connective phrases and clichés. Real writing is James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, Vladimir Nabokov, John Updike, and the like. No chess writer compares to any of the above. – Bruce Pandolfini

I find most of my scribblings and jottings to be detestable and without redeeming value, and I am not alone in this assessment. – Bruce Pandolfini

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not a player, let alone a fine one. I guess it’s okay to call me an author in that I’ve published books, but you don’t have to be a good player to publish chess books. You don’t even have to be a good writer. No, I’m just a teacher, plain and simple, and I teach because I love it. Why don’t I compete anyway? No particular reason, but if ever I do, I’m sure it will be easy enough to find the results and draw appropriate inferences. – Bruce Pandolfini

The pride and sorrow of American chess writing: Eric Schiller. In his latest books, we're reminded on the cover (and several times on the pages within) that he's written over seventy-five books on chess openings. Unfortunately, most of them are bumwipe. – Steve Lopez

In the latter part of 1996 I was sitting in a hotel room on the island of Menorca, staring at Eric Schiller bashing away at his chess database (which kept crashing). He had just told me how he once wrote a chess book in two days. Appalled, I was playing with the idea of tossing him out the window or, at the very least, having Benko rough him up a bit. – Jeremy Silman

I have seen thousands of chess books over the years, but this book is by far the worst book I have ever seen. I don't have any words to express the degree of disgust I feel. It is sad that anybody is willing to put their name on such trash, but for some people it is only a matter of getting paid; they are willing to do anything for money. – Carsten Hansen (on an Eric Schiller book)

Polugaevsky once wrote that it takes at least two years to write a good chess book. I haven't seen a book by Schiller which could have taken more than, at the most, two months to write, and most of them not more than two weeks. Maybe it's the sun out here in California that prevents him from working? Who knows? For now let my message be: Stop buying books written by the likes of Schiller and start appreciating books written by authors who truly care for their readers. – Carsten Hansen

I remember chancing upon it as a frustrated, fumbling teenage chess novice and being happily amazed to learn that chess actually had underlying principles I could learn and use. This process was aided by the simplicity and clarity with which Chernev explained myriads of previously mystifying master moves and maneuvers. Reading it was like a having a blindfold removed, waking up from a confused daze, or having a light turned on in a dark room (not to mention having several hundred points added to my rating). – Taylor Kingston (on Chernev's Logical Chess Move By Move)

This is the worst writing we have ever seen in a chess book. We recommend it only for children of below-average intelligence who enjoy being patronized, or perhaps one might give it to a hated but promising rival whom one wishes to discourage from studying chess. – Taylor Kingston (on Motwani's Chess Under The Microscope)

Chess has an important advantage over "physical" sports in that each move can be diagrammed and debated to death, and every sequence duplicated exactly by anyone able to fathom notation, though they be separated from the original competitors by an ocean or by a century. Unlike other sports, chess can be described, analyzed, and debated in a completely literary format, and this unique quality is undoubtedly why there are more books written about chess than all other sports and hobbies combined. – Bruce Moon

It is quite rare that we find a world class player writing a book about an opening that can still be found in his repertoire. – Carsten Hansen

Players who are devoted to certain opening systems know how unpleasant it can be to play against oneself in the purely psychological sense. – Efim Geller

The better player will win with either color, but it takes longer with Black. – Larry Evans

When I study White, the opening is always equal. When I study Black, the opening is always worse! – Tigran Petrosian

From the White side you see no advantage. From the Black side you can't find equality. – Peter Svidler (on the Scandinavian)

The problem with overzealous evaluations (of openings) is that they lead the weaker reader on a path that promises wealth and riches, only to bestow a fever dream that bursts when the proper medication is applied. – Jeremy Silman

These days I understand there are two kinds of equal positions - equal positions you like to play and equal positions you can't stand the sight of. – Viswanathan Anand

In some places words have been replaced by symbols which, like amulets from a witch's bag, have the power to consume the living spirit of chess. The notorious "!!" can never approximate the human emotions which accompany an excellent move or a great idea. – Tigran Petrosian

Oh, those exclamation points! How they erode the innocent soul of the amateur, removing all hope of allowing him to examine another player's ideas critically! – Tigran Petrosian

There is a school of annotators, which gains prestige from the obscurantism of its "scientific" jargon; another turns principles into rhetorical quips; a third buries them in variations and embalms them with parentheses. – Fred Reinfeld

Experienced annotators are in no way inferior to their scientific colleagues: they can just as easily give a theoretical explanation (or condemnation) of any move, sometimes regardless of whether it is correct or not. – Mark Dvoretsky

A combination is a coup. – C. J. S. Purdy

What is a combination in the game of chess? There are many opinions and nobody has a uniform answer. Sometimes I think that a combination consists of a not-too-long series of moves with material sacrifices, which contend a high element of risk. But if there is a risk, why a string of moves considered to be forced? Because it only appears to be forced, but in reality a combination contains many possibilities which are almost impossible to see while playing a tense game and which are, during subsequent analysis in a more relaxed atmosphere, still difficult to find. – David Bronstein

Though Smyslov was officially world champion for only one year, he was rated higher than Botvinnik between 1950 and 1957, a period during which most experts believe he was the best player in the world even when Botvinnik held the official title. If ever the title of world champion was meaningless, it was during the period of Soviet domination. – Burt Hochberg

I have always felt that some people are fated to become world champions and some people are not, such as Bronstein, Larsen and Korchnoi. If you are destined to, then that's destiny too. – Garry Kasparov

Chess players were very different some years ago. Their spiritual demands, their aspirations, were those of true intellectuals. They had very wide professional interests. Sports is sports, but it was not just victories they thought of. After the 1960s, though, after the generation of Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, the situation changed. – Klara Kasparova

Maybe chess players don’t even want to have as much money as other sportsmen do. Maybe they just don’t need it, just don’t care. While Kasparov was there to find money, OK. If not, there is always FIDE to pay something, or various tournaments. They think they will survive. They are very queer people. – Klara Kasparova

How many chess players should there be in the world for each of them to be happy? Aren’t we facing some crisis of overproduction? As I see it, quite a few of those who complain that they are unable to earn enough money from chess are not supposed to be able to do so. Does a one-hundred-and-ninetieth-rate tennis player make much money? – Mark Glukhovsky

I don’t mind to play for 1 million, 2 millions, but who will pay the money? – Xie Jun

I would prefer chess to become part of the Olympic Games. This would also lead to chess become more excepted as a sport in general. – Viswanathan Anand

Kind, full of promises and guarantees before the contest but a blank amnesia afterwards. That's the way these gentlemen are. – Jan Hein Donner (on Dutch tournament organizers)

Almost always, you’ll be able to identify some set of opponents against whom the second place finisher outperformed the first place finisher. It’s silly to complain about something so fundamental to tournament competitions; it’s like saying that a player’s victory in a single match is meaningless because the player didn’t demonstrate the ability to defeat a variety of opponents. It is up to each player to decide where best to expend energy and effort in an attempt to win the entire tournament. – Jeff Sonas

As chess players' egos grow faster than Elo's, the art of graceful resignation has long been forgotten. One can only reminisce about the good old days when people knew how to lose. Alexander Alekhine may have been a drunk and anti-Semite, but he certainly had manners: he showed up for the last game of his losing match in 1935 wearing a tuxedo, and gave his "Hurrah to the new World Champion!" – Alex Yermolinsky

Chess is a sport, at least partially, and sports is all about upsets and unpredictable results. Bobby was the best in 1972, but failed to show up three years later - kiss your title good-bye! He would not admit it, of course. According to Bobby Fischer he's the one and only undefeated World Champ. Then comes Anatoly Karpov, the FIDE Champion, and now GK is ready to join them. All these self-proclaimed chess kings have got one thing in common - they show no class at all. – Alex Yermolinsky

Venue is important, but I believe the crucial factor is the quality of organization, which comes down to the ability and personality of the organizers. Good organizers could create a great tournament pretty much anywhere. – Jonathan Levitt

I don’t see that the rise of artificial intelligence will put an end to chess. Millions of people already play the game even though they have no chance whatsoever of beating the world champion. For them he is as good as a perfect machine. What difference does it make if the best player in the world is called Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik or Deep Blue? If anything the success of computers might actually increase our own development, probably far beyond the level naturally achieved without them. Most of us are pleased by improving our ability regardless how we do it. – Bruce Pandolfini

Once man starts designing 'electronic brains' analogous to human chess players, the inadequacies of 'chess thinking' will be revealed, and the checking of the various methods of programming will tell us how the live players really think. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Don't worry kids. You'll find work. After all, my machine will need strong chess player-programmers. You will be the first. – Mikhail Botvinnik (to Karpov and other chess students, c.1963, regarding his computer chess program, which he claimed would eventually defeat the World Champion)

Before the first game I was a little bit worried because playing versus a human being, I have my opponent opposite me and it’s a kind of energy that goes between us. But today there was no human being and there was no energy. It’s kind of a black hole, but I discovered a new source of energy because I was playing against a computer and the audience - human beings - everybody really wanted me to crush the computer, because we all have something in common, being human. Thank you very much for this enormous energy supply. – Garry Kasparov (after defeating Deep Thought in '89)

I will defend the human race. – Garry Kasparov (on his match with Deeper Blue)

Machines can only do certain things, and I think to call it, you know, even if Kasparov himself has said it, the end of mankind, is pushing it. – George Plimpton (on Deep Blue)

Forget the prize money. The fate of humanity is on the line, at least in Garry Kasparov’s head. – Maurice Ashley (said during the final game of the '97 Kasparov - Deep Blue Match)

I just think we should look at this as a chess match, between the world's greatest chess player and Garry Kasparov. – Louis Gerstner, IBM Chairman (about the Deeper Blue-Kasparov match of 1997)

This is not just about a chess match. This is really about the future. About how we will be using computers to help us live our lives in the future. – Dr. C. J. Tan (Head of IBM's Deep Blue Team, on the Kasparov - Deep Blue match)

It’s more about man and machine - in the future how man and computer together will be able to solve complex problems. – Dr. CJ Tan (Head of IBM’s Deep Blue team)

This is a battle that may one day become the prime landmark in technology’s ineluctable march to surpass its makers. – Steven Levy (on the '97 Kasparov - Deep Blue Match)

We stand at the brief corona of an eclipse - the eclipse of certain human mastery by machines that humans have created. How well Kasparov does in outsitting IBM’s monster might be an early indication of how well our species might maintain its identity, let alone its superiority, in the years and centuries to come. – Steven Levy (on the '97 Kasparov - Deep Blue Match)

In 1989 it was about fun. In 1996 it was about Science. Now it’s different: I think that they want to win. – Garry Kasparov (on the '97 match against IBM's Deep Blue)

I’ll tear it to pieces without question. However many players they hire. They can hire the entire Grandmaster force of the United States of America. It will not help because we will know how the machine plays. – Garry Kasparov (during the '97 match with Deep Blue)

I’m not afraid to admit I’m afraid. It makes decisions that cannot be made by any computer. – Garry Kasparov (on Deep Blue)

In certain situations, Deep Blue plays like a God. – Garry Kasparov

I don’t think that any database in the Pentagon is as well protected as Deep Blue. – Garry Kasparov

Playing with Deep Blue, I can smell that the decisions it’s making are intelligent, because I would come to the same conclusions as it does by using my intuition. For example, I will choose not to make a bad move because I see it and I know it’s the wrong path. Deep Blue will not make that same bad move because it calculates - and these billions and billions of calculations can, at one point, match my intuition. – Garry Kasparov

So although I think I did see some signs of intelligence (in Deep Blue), it is a weird kind, an inefficient, inflexible kind that makes me think I have a few years left. – Garry Kasparov

He had two options: to play like Kasparov or to play like "Mr. Anti Deep Blue." The former runs the risk of playing to the strengths of the machines, the latter that the human ends up as disoriented as the machine. Humans, too, play weaker in unfamiliar situations and though they may find their way around better, machines can compensate for that with brute force. – Viswanathan Anand

By trying so hard to avoid any position where Deep Blue might be able to calculate its way through, he effectively self-destructed. Three tough draws followed where he was always better, but unable to overcome Deep Blue's stubborn defense. By the 6th game, he was a pale shadow of himself. Suffice it to say that the trap he fell into in the 6th game is a well-known one. It forms part of his own opening strategy as White!! – Viswanathan Anand

Then I have to believe that it was the hand of God that helped the computer to play so strongly in Game Two. – Garry Kasparov

In my mind, there isn't the shadow of a doubt that Kasparov psyched himself out to such an extent during that match, that anything playing chess and vaguely resembling a tin can would have won that fatal sixth game. The result was a dramatic fall of interest towards chess from the general public, and as an immediate consequence, very scarce sponsorship from private sources. – Joel Lautier

Although Garry Kasparov lost the match, he won the news conference. It was not a pretty sight. – Unknown writer in a letter to the NY Times, May 1997

Garry, you will not get another rematch from them (IBM). – Charles Bronson

It was your fault, Garry. – Charles Bronson (on his loss to Deep Blue)

The crash chess has been experiencing the last two or so years is unparalleled in its long history. In 1997, Kasparov lost to a machine clearly weaker than himself, and together with his disgraceful attitude after the match, has done more harm to the chess world than he could possibly imagine. I believe the chess professionals should sue him in court for his 7…h6??? in the sixth game, together with the shameful declarations he made at the press conference. – Joel Lautier

Play competitive chess and we shall see if this machine is a chess prodigy. I think it is time for Deep Blue to start playing real chess. I personally assure you, everybody here, that if Deep Blue starts playing competitive chess, I personally guarantee you, If the match was honest, Kasparov lost because he is stupid. But we cannot take this for granted. – Boris Spassky (on the match with Deeper Blue)

Garry is fighting not only against a supercomputer, but against a well-organized capitalist system employing psychological warfare. – Klara Kasparova

I just didn’t understand that the match against Deep Blue was actually going to be a match against IBM, a heartless corporation which to me bears some resemblance to the former CC CPSS (Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), with which I had many struggles during the ’80s. – Garry Kasparov

I think the competition has just started. – Garry Kasparov (after the '97 Deep Blue Match)

The machine hasn’t proved anything yet. I think it’s just the beginning. – Garry Kasparov (after the '97 match with Deep Blue)

He could have played an intricate combination culminating in a draw on move 256 million. But, I guess he didn't look that far ahead. – Source Unknown (on Deep Blue)

I can't tell the difference between 100 zillion positions and 497 zillion positions, but if it helped Deep Blue play stronger, so be it. I was looking forward to Deep Blue boldly going where no man had gone before. – Viswanathan Anand

I wonder what we were all worried about. I’ll take my five positions per second any day, thank you. – Viswanathan Anand (after Kasparov's victory over Deep Blue in 1996)

Unlike Fritz, I cannot do five million moves per second. I would be very happy with one move per second. But humans have an advantage over the computer mostly on strategical points of the game and therefore we can make long-term strategies much better than computers. – Vladimir Kramnik

Sometimes quantity becomes quality. – Garry Kasparov (on computers' ability to calculate huge numbers of moves)

The computer will always be beatable. – Garry Kasparov

What used to take Garry Kasparov 15 days to analyse will now take him only 15 minutes - and sometimes only 15 seconds. – Dr. C. J. Tan (Head of IBM's Deep Blue Team, on using a computer)

The existence of computers is good for me. I can improve my chess with such a perfect mechanism. – Garry Kasparov

A computer alone is of no use, it does not generate ideas. And my ability to generate ideas, which I have always had, is now combined with the aid of computer analysis. – Garry Kasparov

Understanding is the province of humanity. – Garry Kasparov

A computer never will estimate positions correctly if one of the sides has a material advantage. – Garry Kasparov

Yet one must remember that the computer does not mimic human thought - it reaches the same ends by different means. Deep Thought sees far but notices little, remembers everything but learns nothing, neither erring egregiously nor rising above its normal strength. – Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Thomas Anantharaman, Murray Campbell and Andreas Nowatzyk (Deep Thought creators)

When the two opinions collide over the board, the ingenuity of one supremely talented individual will be pitted against the work of generations of mathematicians, computer scientists and engineers. We believe the result will not reveal whether machines can think but rather whether collective human effort can outshine the best achievements of the ablest human beings. - Feng-Hsiung Hsu, Thomas Anantharaman, Murray Campbell and Andreas Nowatzyk (Deep Thought creators)

There is no imagination involved at all. There is instead, recognition of position, an understanding of topological relationships, memory, learning of prior success and failure paths, and a mathematical weighting of the various options depending on the probable outcomes. No flashes of inspiration. – John Graham (on computer chess)

It is the ideas behind a chess position that are most difficult to define for a computer. Tactics are not ideas. They are the execution of ideas. An idea in this context is the consideration and weighing against each other of various tactical possibilities. – Robert Burger

At the end of the day, however, strategy is the higher art and the only way that man will stay ahead of the computers. – Tim Harding

When the going gets tactical, the computers get going. – Hyatt

The main weakness of computers is their inability to calculate deep variations. – Vladimir Kramnik

They are inferior in tactics. There is nothing else to say. – Vladimir Kramnik (on computer chess programs)

I thought I was playing the world champion, not some 27-eyed monster who sees everything in all positions. – Tony Miles (on playing a computer program)

Chess is thirty to forty percent psychology. You don't have this when you play a computer. I can't confuse it. – Judit Polgar

I realized that in order to be successful a Grandmaster has to prepare in an entirely different manner to play with computers compared with “human” chess. I would compare playing against a computer to a struggle with a river with strong rapids in the fairway and calm waters outside. The art is to reach the calm waters - a key to success in playing against computers.
– Boris Gulko (on his 2002 match against several top computer programs)

It is much more difficult to prepare against a computer than against a human opponent. When I play GMs I prepare the openings which belong to my repertoire and which I consider to be good. Against a computer the same method is not so convenient partly due to the fact that computer is allowed to check huge opening databases during the game which may include specific preparation against my favorite variations. It is also important to understand that even if my analysis may be quite good I can’t simply remember all of them so it looks dangerous to enter into a theoretical opening battle. – Vladimir Kramnik

Put it this way, the Deep Blue supercomputer that beat Kasparov in 1997 weighed 1.4 tons, was over 6ft high and needed many people to keep it running. The new Deep Fritz can run on a laptop. On a fast desktop machine it will be able to achieve the playing level of any incarnation of Deep Blue. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to what this is going to do to Kramnik. – Frederic Friedel (co-founder of the Deep Fritz team)

In spite of all the hyperbole about Kramnik who will "defend humanity's honor against the computer" and "gain revenge for the human race", his upcoming match against some Fritz has, apart from the money involved, no more significance than a match between a cat and a book for the greatest weight. – Tim Krabbe

As machines become more and more efficient and perfect, so it will become clear that imperfection is the greatness of man. – Ernst Fischer

Personally I rather look forward to a computer program winning the world [chess] championship. Humanity needs a lesson in humility. – Richard Dawkins

It wouldn’t be the end of the world if a computer became the best player in the world. If one did, you would just exclude computers from competing in tournaments. The humans play on. – Frederic Friedel (co-founder of the Deep Fritz team)

Probably one day, computers will become stronger than the best human player, but I still believe that we have time, 10 to 15 years, in which to compete with computers. – Vladimir Kramnik

Computer experts vastly underestimate the time required to beat the World Champion. Chess experts, on the other hand, vastly overestimate the time involved. – Hans Berliner

Today, when a computer has beaten the world champion, and when grandmaster-strength programs can be bought for less than a day’s pay, the notion of a machine that plays chess has lost all novelty. – Taylor Kingston

The computer that could win an old-style 24-game (or first to win six) match against the world's strongest human player has not yet been built. – Tim Harding

Chess masters as well as chess computers deserve less reverence than the public accords them. – Eliot Hearst

What we know about the relative strength of human chessplayers and chess computers is this: computers are slowly but surely getting better all the time and now they regularly beat good grandmasters. Still there are about a hundred people in the world who would beat the best computers with a convincing score of let's say 5-1. – Burt Hochberg

Maybe the biggest triumph of the Creator is to see his creatures re-create themselves. – Garry Kasparov (on humans building supercomputers)

With the (presumed) forthcoming "solution" to the chess problem, I think we will come to the end of an era - the era of the "quick kill" where hardware and brute force solve interesting problems. Chess is the last problem in traditional AI that will garner great public attention and be solvable by "simple" brute force techniques. Natural language understanding, scene analysis, speech recognition, and much more will require much more work and work of a different sort, than that used for chess. We'll be at the end of one road that leads just part of the way through the forest. – David Stork

The virtue of computer-assisted analysis has proven to be nothing more than fleecing the sheep. Nowhere in the world are more computer chess programs sold than in the United States yet look at how pitiful this country's chess program is. – Michael Anthony

Every chess player should see that there are also many advantages to have an electronic grandmaster at home. You have a chess partner or analyzing tool of any strength available at any time. Not very long ago it wasn’t easy for an average chess player to get a solid analysis of a complicated position. – Stefan Meyer-Kahlen

Isn't it astounding in a way though, what level of chess playing and analysis and game storage you can get for less than a day's pay, whether it's Chess Genius for your Palm Pilot, or Chessmaster or Fritz for your PC? When you stop and really think about it, for less than $50, you can have a GM living in your house who's willing to play chess with you 24 hours a day, analyze all your games, teach you openings, manage your game collection, practice tactics and endings with you, and won't drink your beer, gripe about playing conditions, or make passes at your wife. – Kelly Atkins

Using a modern-day Silicon Oracle is at the same time stimulating and humbling. Stimulating, because your every question can be answered in a few seconds, but humbling because, in the tradition of oracles, the answers often proved so cryptic that it would take an hour to uncover the logic underlying them. – John Nunn

I think the Net has completed the computer revolution in the chess world. It has made the task of the chess professional so much easier, but on the other hand, it has raised the stakes considerably, as far as the opening preparation is concerned. – Joel Lautier

Anybody in the world can get all the chess games played that day and review them at home. Not too long ago it was hard for the world's top players to get the games their rivals had played over a month before. But now all of us have the opportunity to download or buy thousands of chess games we don't really understand! What a bonus!! If you're like me you look through the games won in less than 20 moves, then the games of your favorite players, and then the games of people with funny names and that's about it, right? – Mig Greengard

In 1996-1998 it became clear that it would be impossible to solve the problems that chess faced at that time without the help of the Internet. Today, in order to successfully promote this kind of sport, in order to create the atmosphere that would make it attractive to the sponsors, we have to provide informational support. No matter how hard we tried to involve television – we failed. And the Internet completely changes the disposition. The Net restores the interconnection between chess professionals and a huge chess audience. – Garry Kasparov

I know that my name attracts sponsors. I cannot identify any player who can replace me in the near future. I’m psychologically at my peak, and my physical condition is also better than that of players from the younger generation. From my point of view Karpov can be regarded a ‘revered’ historical figure, but as years have passed he has lost his power. He no longer fits the category of ‘super grandmaster’ and can no longer be regarded as a Top Ten player. So far, chess players are isolated vis-à-vis society and they are a peripheral phenomenon. I would like to bring them forward into the mainstream of society. Chess is like an intimate drawing-room play, which is not very attractive to the audience. The Internet is a more exciting place for the game. You cannot play football or basketball with a computer, but in chess great numbers of players can participate which makes it an ideal media for sponsorship. – Garry Kasparov

When it is easier for a player to get a game with an opponent in another continent (just by logging on in the comfort of his home) than traveling on a cold wet night to an underheated chess club in his own city, the bonds that link players to their local and national organizations are bound to loosen. Many players ask why they should pay to belong to an organization when they can get a game free on the Net. – Tim Harding

The Internet is the main communication tool for chess to have a huge audience that's been waiting for it. – Garry Kasparov

We have to revere the excellence of the chess elite. Yet sometimes one gets the impression that their pedestal has been jacked up a little too high. The lowly chess mob needs some common-denominator identification with the lofty GMs. They must at times be able to look a GM in the eye and say “I would never have made that terrible blunder that you did,” or “I could have done better than Kasparov did in the final stages of both games he played against Piket in the KasparovChess Grand Prix Online Final. – Nick Kopaloff

While watching top-level chess do you ever get the feeling that these 2700 GMs are playing a rather different game than you are? They often ignore the principles we have been told a hundred times never to ignore, make moves that look like typographical errors and that confuse even the fastest Pentium processor, and somehow it always comes down to an even pawn ending. How can we mortals learn anything from these games? – Mig Greengard

In what was obviously an effort to make the masses (that’s us) feel better about the hundreds of chess books and magazines we own, super-GM Vesselin Topalov of Bulgaria broke a bunch of those rules you’re not supposed to break in his game with Dutch GM Jeroen Piket, and lost just the way the books say you will! I would like to thank Piket for proving, in some small way, that the thousands of dollars I’ve spent on chess junk in my life weren’t all wasted. – Mig Greengard

The creation of chess rating systems may have done more to popularize tournament chess than any other single factor. – Mark E. Glickman

But surely if chess is worth playing and studying at all then it must be as an end in itself. To say that the point of playing chess is to achieve a number is a cheapening of the game which has only held sway during the last twenty years. – Nigel Davies

Whilst chess at club level still maintains much of its traditional intellectual joy, at the highest level of competition it has become a cross between an Olympic sport and an arms race. What disturbs me most is that the attitudes and values of the top players seem to be trickling down to the lower reaches to the extent that many young players seem obsessed with ratings and theory, even if they don't know what they are talking about! – Nigel Davies

The worst thing that ever happened to some juniors is the invention of the rating system. Without it, they would just play whenever they felt like playing and would get a lot stronger, instead of protecting their rating. – Dan Heisman

Whatever happened to playing chess every chance you could get because it was enjoyable? People usually start playing tournament chess for that reason, but soon thereafter that “enjoyment incentive” soon changes as players discover the effects of the rating system. – Dan Heisman

Your rating doesn't mean anything. Your playing strength is the only thing that matters; in the long run your rating will follow your playing strength. – Dan Heisman

To be honest, I think that the present sporting climate is doing tremendous damage and is actually preventing people from enjoying the real value of chess. The reason chess has survived for so many centuries is not because of ratings, national glory or opening theory but because of its intrinsic merits. – Nigel Davies

I really can’t remember what my current rating is. I wouldn’t like to sound immodest, but when you become World Champion, you don’t pay too much attention to ratings anymore. – Vladimir Kramnik

Before Prof. Elo stamped numbers on our foreheads, people played to win tournaments or place as high as they could in the standings or simply win as many games they could. Forget ratings. Play to win and let others figure out how good you are. – Leon Poliakoff

What is the point of participating in the game? It is not, in my view, to win honors for either club, town or country or a means of making money. For me the real value of chess lies in its value for a person's character and intellect, a sentiment which is not popular in this rating conscious day but one which has been repeated through the centuries. – Nigel Davies

The glorious march of the machine will make it difficult for humans to pride themselves on their ratings and knowledge of theory when they can be outstripped in both these respects by a silicon chip. Whilst most players actually fear this day I am one who welcomes it. For when chess as a sport is dead the game may once again resume its place as a beautiful piece of culture in which wisdom, understanding and friendship are valued rather than ratings, results and arrogance. The day of the gnat may shortly be with us… and there will be plenty of room for some friendly elephants too. – Nigel Davies

We’re also particularly obsessed with numbers and ratings, as if ratings were an exact measure of intelligence. Clearly many chessplayers seek an easy way out, trying to get to specific rating levels quickly, hoping to circumvent the exertion it takes to understand the game properly, let alone master it. This somewhat is why we try to apply rules of thumb instead of investing the effort needed to calculate concrete variations. To be sure, unschooled players are more prone to place undo weight on superficial considerations, and much of this is because they don’t yet know enough about the game to appreciate its subtle art. But the truth is, strong players have their own false gods. They too mislead themselves, albeit at a more sophisticated level of deception, thinking that their narrow expertise confers truth and understanding when in reality they have neither. They simply play chess better than the rest of us. – Bruce Pandolfini

You have to lose your fear of a rating before you can become that rating. – Dan Heisman

Nothing is dearer to a chess player’s heart than his rating. Well, of course everyone knows he’s under-rated, but his rating, its ups and downs, however miniscule, are his ego’s stock-market report. – Lev Alburt

First get to FIDE 2600, then come to me and we'll talk about your style. There's a lot of things all good players do the same way, regardless of their style, like checkmating the bare king with the queen. 90% of chess is knowledge, calculating and technique. – Alex Yermolinsky

For non-masters, style is a cover word for a group of weaknesses that someone is trying to hide or avoid! – Eric Schiller

There's nothing worse than a Class C player who acts like the reincarnation of Alekhine, minus the chess ability. – Steve Lopez

How could a Western Grandmaster lose to a Chinaman? – Jan Hein Donner

Today, any professional chess player who isn't deaf, dumb and blind, and is NOT a Grandmaster, must be an idiot.
– James Schroeder

We may need a special title. Right now Kasparov is a GM and I am a GM! This is not the same – Ruslan Ponomariov

I propose dividing the grandmaster category into four levels, from "one-star grandmaster," the lowest GM category, one step higher than international master, to "four-star grandmaster," the highest category, which would apply to perhaps a dozen players of world championship class. – Burt Hochberg

If you are not a grandmaster by age 14, you can forget about being the world champion. – Viswanathan Anand

You can talk a lot about chess being an intellectual contest, but it's a sport with all its physical and mental demands. Otherwise, why do you think these days 20-year-old men are generally better in chess than 40-year-olds? Is this the intellect? – Alex Yermolinsky

To fight against youth in chess? No thank you! – Emanuel Lasker

You are never too old to play chess! – Bobby Fischer

Any past belief a woman may have had that she cannot be a top-ranked chess player is null and void today. – George Koltanowski

However painful it may be, we must not shrink from the truth: women cannot play chess. They cannot paint either, or write, or philosophize. The fact is that women are much more stupid than men. – Jan Hein Donner

So why are women less interested in playing chess? I think this extends to many other areas too because women are far less likely to become obsessive about anything, including hobbies and jobs. – Susan Lalic

I find it sad when women assume that a comment about men being able to play chess better is somehow a reflection that men are superior to women intellectually. I only feel that men and women have more differences than the obvious physical ones and while men often specialize in one field, women are better able to do several jobs at once. – Susan Lalic

Chess is tough and demanding if you want to do it on the top level. But this is not the only aspect where women find it hard to compete with men. These days, when it all revolves around computers and databases, a top chessplayer must devote a huge chunk of their time to preparation, and do so daily. It has almost become necessary to be able to shut oneself out of the outside world to stay competitive in chess. Families? Forget it! Men are more likely to make such sacrifices. And finally, let's not forget that chess (same as boxing) is an ultimate one-on-one challenge. The well-documented edge women have in their ability to work within a group of people helps them to claim 55% of college degrees and climb corporate ladders as well as men. Chess is different, "chess is war, chess is all about testosterone-driven primal screams..." - sorry, that was not me, that was Garry Kasparov talking. And, by the way, Judith Polgar is an exception, which only proves the rule. She is more than good enough to defeat most men GMs, but she can't get over the hump on the top level. Just like Gaprindashvili and Chiburdanidze before her, Judith could only get as far as her talent would take her, OK that's Top 20 - not bad at all, but still.... – Alex Yermolinsky

The Polgar sisters are an excellent role model for any aspiring female player. With one argument running that women can play chess as well as men but have been held back in society as a whole, and the other that women are not as suited to play chess as men, due to biological factors, surely the truth lies somewhere in the middle. – Susan Lalic

Even in the world of chess there is at least one woman who rates as a world-class player. For inveterate masculinists and for those who must write jocular pieces to earn a living, this is a serious setback, which will naturally not prevent us in the least from continuing our struggle unabatedly. – Jan Hein Donner (speaking of Nona Gaprindashvili)

Up until this point, the world has only seen one woman in the top 100 players list: Judit Polgar. And how did she get there? By abstaining from participating in segregated events. This is exactly how women will continue to rise in the rankings, by competing against players who are more skillful, and currently, this means men. If the level of competition doesn’t exist, women will eventually lose interest; there is no challenge, and no improvement. And women will always be viewed as separate and inferior players. – Jennifer Brown

It's OK for women chess players to get married. But problems arise when they have children, because they will have a lot of responsibilities. It depends on whether you want to educate your own child. – Judit Polgar

I have nothing against chess for women but for me the level is more challenging in the men’s game. Besides I think that the separation of the sexes in chess only exacerbates the difference in the playing levels of the sexes. If there was no separation between man and women in chess I think that in the short term we would see a drop in the number of women competing because the competition would be far too challenging for the majority of women players. But in the long term it would level out and be good for the game. – Judit Polgar

The level of women’s tournaments is low. When you set the target low, so are the achievements. Playing against strong players improves one’s game. This is why I believe that girls have to play in real events. – Sophia Polgar

And what about the women? They have their title and a qualification problem to solve. Throwing them into the mix in a vain hope that the strongest will come out on top is simply unfair. – Alex Yermolinsky

This may be ungallant, but I think chess is really a game for the masculine imagination. There is a different quality of imagination involved. Men are more imaginative and women are better technically. – Harry Golombek

When you play, it is your game. To be a good chess player, man or woman, you need, among other things, a good memory, and men and women have that equally. Also needed are combinational ideas - and men and women are equally noted for their wiles and strategies; will power we all have that; egotistical traits - why not? Male players have it in abundance; and patience. – George Koltanowski

Among female chessplayers, I've met more ones that were beautiful and charming, magnificent and even insanely astounding (I hope they won't take offense to my words!) than those who were endowed with a chess