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Chess Quotations

The Players

Chess players are madmen of a certain quality, the way the artist is supposed to be, and isn't, in general. – Marcel Duchamp

The only thing chess players have in common is chess. – Lodewijk Prins

The great players of the past provided necessary steps in the creation of the present. – Bruce Pandolfini

Not all artists may be chess players, but all chess players are artists. – Marcel Duchamp

While grandmasters tend to be an egotistical lot, it's hard to think of many who would, with a straight face, describe their own moves as awe-inspiring. – Taylor Kingston

The majority of people imagine a chess master as being a townsman who passes his life in an atmosphere of smoke and play in cafes and clubs: a neurasthenic individual, whose nerves and brains are continuously working at tension: a one-sided person who has given up his whole soul to chess. – Richard Reti

Could we look into the head of a chess player, we should see there a whole world of feelings, images, ideas, emotion and passion. – Alfred Binet

Chess players are good thinkers but not always good students, as many university dons have found to their annoyance! – Jonathan Levitt

The chess player who has lost his game - who will describe him? I have seen him unable to move. The public was long gone, the lights were out, and still he sat rigidly in his chair staring at the emptied board, because he had overlooked Bg2. A case of complete petrification, with bystanders whispering and tiptoeing by. I have heard him begging for punishment in blasphemous language. He had forgotten Nh5, and in his dismay he called down annihilation upon himself. Derisively, he rejected our words of solace, demanding insults and chastisements. Standing afar and horror-stricken, I have witnessed him swearing in orgiastic fury to rip off his genitals, because he had played Qf6 instead of Qb6. – Jan Hein Donner

Chess players have unpleasant characteristics. They are (to a degree, of course) proud, argumentative, over-cautious and deceitful. That the chess player has a certain amount of pride is not his fault; so long have the non-playing public bowed down to the graven image of Caissa that the initiated were bound sooner or later to feel their supposed superiority, and become over-bearing. As to their deceitfulness, this undoubtedly comes from the chess player’s habit of continually laying traps for his opponents – he has an itch to mate somebody on the mosaic of life. Chess is an ideal school for politicians and other word fighters; and those who have been brought up in the school readily grasp the vital points of an argument, which vital points – the problemists especially – they are over-keen to drive to a definite end. – Norman Alliston

Famous since childhood, always surrounded by flattery, chess players grow to feel themselves exceptionally gifted. They believe that they could achieve success in any field, and some of these fields pay better than chess. So, let's start it over and in no time, I'll be making millions as a stockbroker or lawyer. I hold a different opinion. Some of a chess player's talents may indeed extend beyond the scope of chess playing, but some necessary qualities to success in the “real” world are likely to be missing. Chess players are self-centered, whiny, arrogant S.O.B.`s unable to coexist with each other. – Alex Yermolinsky

Generally speaking, most chess players are boring, self-centered, money-oriented, poorly educated overgrown adolescents I couldn't care less about. With some exceptions, that includes the Linares crowd and all of the world's top twenty.
– Alex Yermolinsky

Being a professional chess player is something akin to being a prostitute. – Pal Benko

There are people who play the game their whole lives and don't go to school. Then when they get older they're not so remarkable and they can't do anything well but play chess. – Irina Krush

The old masters loved chess in themselves; the young love themselves in chess. – Source Unknown

No chess grandmaster is normal; they only differ in the extent of their madness. – Viktor Korchnoi.

He has no common sense - it is all genius. – Source Unknown (about Philidor)

This big chess player is the connecting link between the times of Philidor and our epoch. – George Walker (on Deschapelles)

Mine forbids me to be absurd. – Alexandre Deschapelles (in reply to a prospective opponent who said, "My religion forbids me to play for money.")

The only way to be on good terms with him, without meanness or flattery, is to see him seldom, never be under obligation to him, and to maintain a dignified reserve. – Pierre Saint-Amant (on Deschapelles)

M. Deschapelles is the greatest chess player in France; M. Deschapelles is the greatest whist player in France; M. Deschapelles is the greatest billiards player in France (using the stump of his right arm to push the cue); M. Deschapelles is the greatest pumpkin-grower in France; M. Deschapelles is the greatest liar in France. – Source Unknown

All I need is a little position. – Charles de la Bourdonnais

The Hungarian plays the openings remarkably well, but when he gets into the middlegame, he plays like a rook player. By George, he IS a rook player. – Wilhelm Steinitz (on Lowenthal)

The deceased often acted, not only with signal lack of generosity, but also with gross unfairness towards those whom he disliked, or from whom he had suffered defeat, or whom he imagined likely to stand between him and the sun. His attacks upon Anderssen, Williams, Harrwitz, Lowenthal and Steinitz must ever be considered as a sad misuse of his vigorous intellect, especially as they were often conducted in a manner not at all consistent with a truthful spirit; nor were his innuendoes concerning Morphy otherwise than an utterly unworthy means of getting out of an engagement, which he could have either declined with a good grace at first, or afterwards have honorably asked to be released from. Nevertheless, all said and done, Staunton was, as we have often heard a distinguished enemy of his say, emphatically a MAN. There was nothing weak about him, and he had a backbone that never curved with fear of any one. Of him may be averred, what was said of the renowned Duke of Bedford by Louis the Eleventh, when the courtiers of the latter were venting their deprecatory scoffs over the tomb of the great Englishman, "There lies one, before whom if he were still alive, the boldest amongst us would tremble." For the rest we consider that Staunton was beginning of late to change for the better in his pen and ink dealings with others, and might, had life been spared him, have attained to a softened and mellow old age. – William Norwood Potter

His only excuse, I think, lay in his great irritability of temper, undoubtedly the result of physical sufferings. The fact is that for many years he had been subject to a disease of the heart; this does not appear to be universally known, but to me it seems the clue to some of his peculiarities and several hitherto unexplained incidents. An attack, for instance, of this illness was, I presume, the real cause why, in the middle of the famous match with St. Amant, when in the beginning he had won nearly every game, his strength of a sudden gave way and the opponent got a temporary chance to retrieve his losses. – Baron Tassilo von Heyderbrand und der Lasa (on Staunton)

It was not sitting late that brought on the attack, but nervous irritability at feeling how sadly I have fallen off in mental vigor of play. – Howard Staunton

I was sorry to lose Lewis and St. Amant, my dear friends Bolton and Sir T. Madden, and others of whom we have been deprived, but for Jaenisch I entertained a particular affection, and his loss was proportionately painful to me. He was truly an amiable and an upright man. – Howard Staunton

As an author, Staunton's influence upon Chess play in this country has been immense, and it is no exaggeration to say that his literary labors are the basis upon which English Chess Society, as at present constituted, stands. Had it not been for the educating influence of his many and important Chess works, the practice of the game would have been far from attaining to the high order of excellence by which it is now characterized amongst English Chess players as a body. On the contrary, the prevailing type of play here would, in all probability, be miserably unscientific and barbarous. – William Norwood Potter

Staunton was the most profound opening analyst of all time. He was more theorist than player, but nonetheless he was the strongest player of his day. Playing over his games, I discover that they are completely modern; where Morphy and Steinitz rejected the fianchetto, Staunton embraced it. In addition, he understood all of the positional concepts which modern players hold so dear, and thus - with Steinitz - must be considered the first modern player. – Bobby Fischer

Mr. Mongredien said to our hero, "You must be very careful, Mr. Morphy, what you say and do with regard to Staunton: he is a wily customer and will find means to back out of this match and throw the onus upon you". I immediately answered right out, "Mr. Morphy, Sir, has come to Europe to beat Mr. Staunton and he will beat him with whatever weapons that gentleman may choose." – Frederick Edge

The experience, however, of some weeks, during which I have labored unceasingly, to the serious injury of my health, shows that not only is it impracticable for me to save time (to play a match), but that by no means short of giving up a great work on which I am engaged, subjecting the publishers to the loss of thousands, and myself to an action for breach of contract, could I obtain time even for the match itself. Such a sacrifice is, of course, out of all question. – Howard Staunton (on the proposed match with Morphy)

From his performance in the Birmingham tournament where, after defeating a weak player named Hughes in the first round, Staunton succumbed to Lowenthal in the second, we can justly assume that in 1858 he was so far below his best form that an encounter with Morphy would have been a massacre. – David Levy

What you are outside of chess, I have made you. Your tremendous laziness, but for me, would have obliterated all your acts. I have taken your hundreds of letters out of your pockets even, and answered them, because you would have made every man your enemy by not replying. I made you stay and play Anderssen, when you wanted to leave. I nursed you when ill, carrying you in my arms like a child. I have been a lover, a brother, a mother to you; I have made you an idol, a god - and now that you are gone, I never… - but I will not finish. I say this to you, Fiske, but I have said nothing of it in my book; there Morphy is all in all, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; all that is great, magnanimous, true, noble and sublime, and Morphy will not open its pages without a blush, or close them without a sigh. – Frederick Edge

I can from the depths of my soul declare, looking God in the face, that had it not been for me, you wouldn't have seen twenty of Morphy's games. – Frederick Edge

I can think of no more suitable epithet for Morphy than to call him "the Newton of Chess. – Frederick Edge

When one plays with Morphy the sensation is as queer as the first electric shock, or first love, or chloroform, or any entirely novel experience. – Henry Bird

The man born too soon. – Alexander Alekhine (on Morphy)

The Bobby Fischer of the 19th century. – Larry Parr (on Morphy)

Morphy was an American Caissic F-16 in an era of European hot air chess balloons. – Larry Parr

The magnificent American master had the most extraordinary brain that anybody has ever had for chess. Technique, strategy, tactics, knowledge which is inconceivable for us; all that was possessed by Morphy fifty-four years ago. – Jose R. Capablanca

Morphy’s technique in winning won positions and drawing lost positions has also been praised, but his defining edge over the competition was an understanding of the importance of time in chess. – Larry Parr

When it is so freely asserted that Morphy's style was all genius and inspiration. Morphy possessed the most profound book knowledge of any master of his time, and never introduced a single novelty, whereas since his day the books have had to study the players. – Wilhelm Steinitz

He who plays Morphy must abandon all hope of catching him in a trap, no matter how cunningly laid, but must assume that it is so clear to Morphy that there can be no question of a false step. – Adolf Anderssen

In the handling of open positions, nothing new has been found after Morphy! – Mikhail Botvinnik

Morphy's games served as guiding lights for Steinitz and others who were keen enough to see that Morphy's wins came from more than just flashy tactics and poor defense by his opponents. – Mig Greengard

Alas, Morphy did not bother to explain the superiority of his method. Only the powerful mind of another chess giant, Wilhelm Steinitz, could systematize the profound positional rules that created a new outlook in chess progress. – Garry Kasparov

Morphy in 1886, had he been alive, would have beaten the Morphy of 1859. – Wilhelm Steinitz

The progress of age can no more be disputed than Morphy's extraordinary genius. – Wilhelm Steinitz

I did find that everything of him was correct: he was a gentleman, soft-spoken, kindly, but for some reason felt that chess was no blessing. And who knows, maybe he was right. – Wilhelm Steinitz (on Morphy)

Chess, of course, may have been the cause of Morphy's mental fall; he may have loved it not wisely but too well. A mind saturated with one idea to the exclusion of all others is necessarily predisposed to mania, and if a man allows himself to regard Chess as the one fact of existence, thereby starving his mind, which, like the body, requires a variety of food, then the texture of the strongest brain must become weakened, and the reason sooner or later be overthrown. Whether this was Morphy's case remains to be seen. However, the disaster which has overtaken him may be accounted for in another way. Success came to him too early and was too complete. So far as Chess was concerned he had conquered the world, and henceforth he had no motive in life. – William Norwood Potter

Perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived, he would beat anybody today in a set-match. He had complete sight of the board and seldom blundered even though he moved quite rapidly. I've played over hundreds of his games and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity. – Bobby Fischer (on Morphy)

A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy, is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today. – Bobby Fischer

Morphy was probably the greatest genius of them all. – Bobby Fischer

Pure combinative chess reached its climax in Anderssen. He represents the spirit of sacrifice, free and unrestrained. – Reuben Fine

Attack! Always attack! – Adolf Anderssen

I came to London to play chess. – Adolf Anderssen (on why he hadn't visited the Great Exhibition of 1851)

Anderssen was honest and honorable to the core. Without fear of favor he straightforwardly gave his opinion, and his sincere disinterestedness became so patent, that his word alone was usually sufficient to quell disputes, for he had often given his decision in favor of a rival. – Wilhelm Steinitz

No one ever speaks ill of Anderssen. In death, as in life, all chessplayers are his friends. – William Norwood Potter

She recalled her father raging and seething with anger to such an extent that she was very frightened and, thereafter, equated Sam Loyd with the devil. – Newing (on Dudenay's daughter and her father's reaction to discovering Loyd had published his puzzles and problems as his own)

In London chess politics he tried the experiment of bowing all around in the midst of a fighting crowd, and he looked quite astonished when he found himself alternately kicked in the rear by different parties. – Wilhelm Steinitz (on William Norwood Potter)

Some years ago I told Mr. Potter to his face, not just in reference to analysis in general, but respecting chess political affairs in special, that he could see remarkably clear just beyond his own nose. In fairness I am bound to state that he answered promptly: "That is more than most other people can do." – Wilhelm Steinitz

Blackburne will always be remembered with affection in his own country and probably was always so regarded in many other lands he visited. He was a "good mixer". He was a very entertaining companion who had picked up much in life besides chess. – Philip W. Sergeant

These two geniuses had an unrivaled insight into the nature of chess. Whereas the popularizers think of chess as being amenable to order, logic, exactitude, calculation, foresight and other comparable qualities, Steinitz and Tchigorin agreed on one thing: that chess can be, and often is, as irrational as life itself. It is full of disorder, imperfection, blunders, inexactitudes, fortuitous happenings, and unforeseen consequences. But whereas Steinitz strove with all his might to impose order on the irrational, Tchigorin went to the other extreme. Let us surrender to the irrational, he said in effect. Steinitz tried to banish the unforeseen. Tchigorin took delight in it. Steinitz sought order, system, logic, balance, broad basic postulates; Tchigorin wanted surprise, change, novelty, glitter, the lightning stroke from a clear sky. – Fred Reinfeld

Place the contents of the chess box in a hat, shake them up vigorously, pour them on the board from a height of two feet - and you get the style of Steinitz. – Henry Bird

I am fully and entirely concentrated on the board. I never even consider my opponent's personality. So far as I am concerned, my opponent might as well be an abstraction or an automaton. – Wilhelm Steinitz

I may be an old lion, but I can still bite someone's hand off if he puts it in my mouth. – Wilhelm Steinitz

I play my king all over the board. I make him fight! – Wilhelm Steinitz

I have never in my life played the French Defense, which is the dullest of all openings. – Wilhelm Steinitz

He always sought completely original lines and didn't mind getting into cramped quarters if he thought that his position was essentially sound. – Bobby Fischer (on Steinitz)

This little man has taught us all to play chess. – Adolf Schwarz (speaking of Steinitz)

A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror. – Wilhelm Steinitz

I shall accord to myself the honor of inscribing myself as an applicant for the American citizenship which according to law I can obtain only after five years residence in this country. And I shall yield to no one of my future countrymen in patriotism. I consider America now my real home. – Wilhelm Steinitz (in 1886)

Fame, I have already. Now I need the money. – Wilhelm Steinitz

No great player blundered oftener than I done. I was champion of the world for twenty-eight years because I was twenty years ahead of my time. I played on certain principles, which neither Zukertort nor anyone else of his time understood. The players of today, such as Lasker, Tarrasch, Pillsbury, Schlechter and others have adopted my principles, and as is only natural, they have improved upon what I began, and that is the whole secret of the matter. – Wilhelm Steinitz

He had the reputation of being a brilliant but unsteady and untried combinational player, eminently suitable for the classification 'romantic'. – Harry Golombek (on Steinitz as a young player)

I would rather die in America than live in England. I would rather lose a match in America than win one in England. I have come to the conclusion that I neither mean to die soon or to lose the match! – Wilhelm Steinitz

He completely changed the game as it was played by Blackburne, Anderssen, Morphy and the other romantic heroes, and most likely he was the foundation upon which all modern chess has been built, but that did not prevent him from being the most unpopular chess player who ever lived. He had a grudge against the world, and the world returned it. – Harold Schonberg (on Steinitz)

He is the so-called father of the modern school of chess; before him, the King was considered a weak piece and players set out to attack the King directly. Steinitz claimed that the King was well able to take care of itself, and ought not to be attacked until one had some other positional advantage. He understood more about the use of squares than Morphy and contributed a great deal more to chess theory. – Bobby Fischer

The greatest development after age 21 was shown by Steinitz, who increased his rating by more than a full class interval. Steinitz was the deep student and fierce competitor to the end of his career. – Arpad Elo

Wilhelm Steinitz was the first man to appreciate the inherent logic behind the game of chess. – William Hartston

In my opinion the match with Steinitz does not have the great importance that they themselves attribute to it. For Steinitz has grown old, and the old Steinitz is no longer the Steinitz of old. – Siegbert Tarrasch (on the Lasker - Steinitz world championship match of 1894)

If Steinitz continually took pains to discover combinations, the success or failure of his diligent search could not be explained by him as due to chance. Hence, he concluded that some characteristic, a quality of the given position, must exist that would indicate the success or the failure of the search before it was actually undertaken. – Emanuel Lasker

I, who vanquished Steinitz, must see to it that his great achievement, his theories, should find justice, and I must avenge the wrongs he suffered. – Emanuel Lasker

Zukertort was not yet Zukertort in 1872 and was no longer Zukertort in 1886. – Source Unknown (on the two Steinitz-Zukertort matches)

If Zukertort has a plan in mind, he is a match for Steinitz, possibly even his peer. Every move of Zukertort's pointed towards a vigorous cooperation the pieces united to attack the King. This is the old Italian plan; Zukertort found it ready made, and in the tactics of execution he was a great master. Steinitz, however, discovered sound and successful plans over the board.
– Emanuel Lasker

Zukertort relied on combinations, and in that field he was a discoverer, a creative genius. For all that, he was unable to make use of his faculty, the positions yielding no response to his passionate search for combinations. Zukertort, the great discoverer, searched in vain, while Steinitz was able to foresee them. Zukertort could not understand how Steinitz was able to prevent combinations. He tried for four years to solve this riddle, but he never approached its solution by even one step. – Emanuel Lasker

Mason had the unique quality of competently simmering through six aching hours, and scintillating in the seventh. Others resembled him, but forgot to scintillate. – William Napier

About Mason it has recently been written that in a sober state he doesn't have to lose a game to anyone. This may be true, but as this state is increasingly rare, it must be feared that his result here will be as mediocre as in his previous tournament. – Source Unknown (on the eve of the 1895 Hastings tournament)

The first great Russian player and one of the last of the Romantic School. At times he would continue playing a bad line even after it was refuted. – Bobby Fischer (on Chigorin)

No fact is more obvious to the observing mind, than that we of this generation shall find ourselves sorely tried ere long by the young knights who are now putting on their armor. – William Norwood Potter

I already came upon the world as an extraordinary human being; to my parents' great horror, I was equipped with a clubfoot, which, however, did not hamper my rapid progress. – Siegbert Tarrasch

As Rousseau could not compose without his cat beside him, so I cannot play chess without my king's bishop. In its absence, the game to me is lifeless and void. The vitalizing factor is missing, and I can devise no plan of attack. – Siegbert Tarrasch

Razor-sharp, he always followed his own rules. In spite of devotion to his own supposedly scientific method, his play was often witty and bright. – Bobby Fischer (on Tarrasch)

By 1914 anybody who read books understood the principles of the open game, and they understood them either directly or indirectly because of Tarrasch`s untiring efforts. – Reuben Fine

Tarrasch teaches knowledge, Lasker teaches wisdom. – Fred Reinfeld

Dr. Tarrasch is a thinker, fond of deep and complex speculation. He will accept the efficacy and usefulness of a move if at the same time he considers it beautiful and theoretically right. But I accept that sort of beauty only if and when it happens to be useful. He admires an idea for its depth, I admire it for its efficacy. My opponent believes in beauty, I believe in strength. I think that by being strong, a move is beautiful too. – Emanuel Lasker

As I pored over the games of the great masters, two styles appealed to me above all others: Lasker and Steinitz. In Lasker I saw, above all, the supreme tactical genius. Whether a game was won or lost mattered little to him; he fought on to get the most out of every position. And in Steinitz I saw the master of consistency; he had a plan from the beginning of the game, and would stick to it, regardless of the consequences. – Reuben Fine

Steinitz always looked for the objectively right move. Tarrasch always claimed to have found the objectively right move. Lasker did nothing of the kind. He never bothered about what might or might not be the objectively right move; all he cared for was to find whatever move was likely to be most embarrassing for the specific person sitting on the other side of the board. – Jacques Hannak

Although he had a great grasp and appreciation of Steinitz' theories, Lasker always played the man as well as the board. – Dave Regis

Lasker could make a mistake and smile, knowing that perfection is not granted to mortal man. – Reuben Fine

Lasker won so many games from bad positions that he was accused by at least one opponent of witchcraft, by another of hypnotism and by many more as being grossly over-endowed with good luck. In fact, he often deliberately courted difficult positions because he understood the mental stress that can be built up in the mind of an attacker when he meets with a resolute defense. By building up an opponent's hopes and then placing a trail of difficulties in his path, Lasker would induce feelings of doubt, confusion and finally panic. In his own terminology, Lasker was deliberately avoiding "eumachic" strategies because they tended to guide the opponent too easily towards "eumachic" replies. An "amachic" move here and there, however, may introduce just the "jont" needed to prompt your opponent to send his "stratoi" in the wrong direction. – Bill Hartston

I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake. – Emanuel Lasker

While both Steinitz and Tarrasch had set themselves up as "macheeides", putting into practice a perfect strategy, playing only the best possible moves on every occasion, Lasker's approach to the game was certainly more flexible. For Lasker understood better than anyone that the true nature of the struggle in chess was not an objective search for the truth, but a psychological battle against both oneself and the opponent, in conditions of extreme uncertainty. – Bill Hartston

Of my 57 years, I’ve applied at least 30 to forgetting most of what I learned or read, and since I succeeded in this I have acquired a certain ease and cheer which I should never again like to be without. If need be, I can increase my skill in chess, if need be I can do that of which I have no idea present. I have stored little in my memory, but I can apply that little, and it is of good use in many and varied emergencies. I keep it in order, but resist every attempt to increase its dead weight. – Emanuel Lasker

In life, as in chess, Lasker was a fighter. – Fred Reinfeld

Lasker's inexhaustible store of genius provided us with many hours of pleasure. – Fred Reinfeld

It is remarkable, and deserves special mention that the great masters, such as Pillsbury, Maroczy and Janowsky play against Lasker as though hypnotized. – George Marco

Nobody had such a fine feeling as Lasker for activating pieces. Often his opponents (and annotators too) would still be wondering long afterwards where the game had actually been lost. Advantages seemed to disappear mysteriously when facing Lasker! – Richard Forster

It is no easy matter to reply correctly to Lasker's bad moves. – William Pollock

Lasker's style is like limpid clear water - with a dash of poison in it! – Source Unknown

The older the player, the greater the odds his idol is Lasker! – Lev Alburt

Ah, Dr. Lasker, I presume. – Unknown blind player after the first few moves of a game against Lasker

It is too beautiful to spend your life upon. Many times have I managed to break with chess, yet I have always fallen in love with it again. I was too captivated by the conflict between ideas and opinions, attack and defence, life and death. – Emanuel Lasker

Such was my play when I was still a youngster. The rest is history. – Emanuel Lasker (as an old man showing some of his games to someone who didn't realize who he was)

I will not suffer liars in my house! – Emanuel Lasker (on throwing away an expensive mantel clock that kept time poorly)

Emanuel Lasker was undoubtedly one of the most interesting people I came to know in my later life. – Albert Einstein

For me, this personality, notwithstanding his fundamentally optimistic attitude, had a tragic note. The enormous mental resilience, without which no chess player can exist, was so much taken up by chess that he could never free his mind of this game, even when he was occupied by philosophical and humanitarian questions. – Albert Einstein (about Lasker)

A King of chess. – Emanuel Lasker (his final words on his deathbed)

He carries out operations, apparently not concerted, on different parts of the board, so that one has the impression that a game with no clear preconceived objective is in progress. And it is only at the end that one perceives for the first time the connection of things seemingly disconnected, with the result that the game is rounded off into one great homogenous whole. – Richard Reti (on Carl Schlechter)

Schlechter was the one competitor who accepted all things and all arrangements with equanimity amounting almost to indifference. Everything was right for him and nothing amiss, and this man, who apparently paid such little regard to his interests, was the winner of the first prize. Schlechter also showed us the generous side of his nature by declining to compete for any of the brilliancy prizes, for which he undoubtedly would have had the best chance. "I have won enough", he said. "Let others get something too." – Isidor Gunsberg

The World Championship… It wasn't that he didn't value the title, but the burdens associated with that rank in the chess hierarchy filled him with trepidation. Not only because of the hungry challengers he would have to face, foremost among them the dreaded Lasker, but also because his obligations towards patrons, organizers, and other masters - towards every chess enthusiast in the world in a sense - would be overwhelmingly great. The World Champion was an example to thousands. He was simultaneously revered and hunted. His opinion counted. Every word he wrote, perused with care. In every tournament, he was the measure of all things. His victories were taken for granted; his defeats were humiliations. The World Champion had to prove himself again and again. – Thomas Glavinic (on Schlechter's lack of desire to win the title)

He had little foibles about the kind of game he liked - his weakness for the two bishops was notorious - and he could follow the wrong path with more determination than any man I met! He was also something of a dandy and quite vain about his appearance. – Frank Marshall (on David Janowsky)

I detest the endgame. A well-played game should be practically decided in the middlegame. – David Janowsky

I have always liked a wide open game and tried to knock out my opponent with a checkmate as quickly as possible. I subscribe to the old belief that offense is the best form of defense. – Frank Marshall

Probably no American champion took more pleasure out of playing chess, as opposed to winning games, than did Frank Marshall. He would rather lose the game than lose the chance for brilliancy. – Andy Soltis

The life of a chess champion is short. I feel I am shortening my life by sticking at the game. I've long wanted to quit. But there's a fascination that holds me. – Frank Marshall

My entire life has been devoted to the game. I don't believe a day has gone by that I have not played at least one game of chess - and I still enjoy it as much as ever. – Frank Marshall

Some of Marshall's most sparkling moves look at first like typographical errors. – William Napier

Vidmar was a very strong drawing master, whose lily-livered style of chess makes itself felt in the style of his fellow Yugoslavs even nowadays. – Jan Hein Donner

I am lucky that he is torn between engineering and chess; otherwise, my title would be seriously threatened. – Jose R. Capablanca (on Milan Vidmar)

Rubinstein was an artist whose masterpieces are the priceless legacy of an unhappy genius. – Reuben Fine

60 days a year I play in tournaments, 5 days I rest, and 300 days I work on my game. – Akiba Rubinstein

Tonight, I am playing against the Black pieces. – Akiba Rubinstein (on being asked who his opponent was)

There is scarcely another master who suffers so from nerves, which cause him moments of complete exhaustion so that he commits crude blunders. – Richard Reti (on Rubinstein)

Oh I'm fine. I just need to see a doctor about this fly. – Akiba Rubinstein (on the annoyance his mental illness caused him to imagine)

Rubinstein is the rook ending of a game begun by the Gods thousands of years ago. – Saviely Tartakower

Young man, you play remarkable chess! You never make a mistake! – Emanuel Lasker (after losing most of the games in a 10 game rapid transit match against a very young Capablanca)

As one by one I mowed them down, my superiority soon became apparent. – Jose R. Capablanca

Capablanca's planning of the game is so full of that freshness of his genius for position play, that every hypermodern player can only envy him. – Alexander Alekhine

He was of medium height, lean, but no padding needed for his shoulders. And such pride in the posture of his head! You would know no one could dingle-dangle that man. I can visualize him so clearly, with his dark hair and large gray-green eyes. Believe me, when he took a stroll, in his black derby hat and carrying a cane, no handsomer young gentleman ever graced Fifth Avenue. – Bernard Epstein (Capa's college roommate)

Why should I give her publicity? – Jose R. Capablanca (on being asked to pose for a photo with a famous actress)

It is astonishing how carefully Capablanca's combinations are calculated. Turn and twist as you will, search the variations in every way possible, you come to the inevitable conclusion that the moves all fit in with the utmost precision. – Max Euwe

I just can’t win in such a way! – Jose R. Capablanca (on an Alekhine combination in the 11th game of their title match)

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

There is nothing more to fear from the Capablanca technique. – Efim Bogoljubow (shortly after which, Capablanca proceeded to crush him)

Capablanca didn’t make separate moves - he was creating a chess picture. Nobody could compare with him in this. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Whether this advantage is theoretically sufficient to win or not does not worry Capablanca. He simply wins the ending. That is why he is Capablanca! – Max Euwe (on a Capablanca game)

Chess was Capablanca's mother tongue. – Richard Reti

I always use only the openings that bring fruitful results in practice, regardless of the positions arising in the middle-game. – Jose R. Capablanca

I thought for a little while before playing this, knowing that I would be subjected thereafter to a terrific attack, all the lines of which would be of necessity familiar to my adversary. The lust of battle, however, had been aroused within me. I felt that my judgment and skill were being challenged. I decided that I was honor bound, so to speak, to take the pawn and accept the challenge, as my judgment told me that my position should then be defensible. – Jose R. Capablanca (on being confronted by Marshall's new Marshall Attack)

When a match is over I forget it. You can only remember so many things, so it is better to forget useless things that you can’t use and remember useful things that you can use. For instance, I remember and will always remember that in 1927 Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs. – Jose R. Capablanca

I had to keep walking from table to table. I must have walked ten miles. In chess, as in baseball, the legs go first. Chess is not an old man’s game. – Jose R. Capablanca (on giving a simul)

Sir, if you could beat me, I would know you. – Jose R. Capablanca (to an unknown player who had rejected Capablanca's offer of queen odds, on the grounds that Capablanca didn't know him, and might lose)

Learn carefully to work out strategic plans like Capablanca, and you will laugh at the plans told to you in ridiculous stories. – Emanuel Lasker

Poor Capablanca! Thou wert a brilliant technician, but no philosopher. Thou wert not capable of believing that in chess, another style could be victorious than the absolutely correct one. – Max Euwe

I have not given any drawn or lost games, because I thought them inadequate to the purpose of the book. – Jose R. Capablanca

It’s entirely possible that Capa could not imagine that there could be a better move than one he thought was good and he was usually right. – Mike Franett

There was Capablanca, not a "type" at all, but a very unique personality with his very own way of glancing back over his shoulder as soon as he had calmly risen. It used to be a very brief and somewhat haughty glance, just as if he merely wished to make quite sure that whatever piece he had just moved was still exactly on that square. Having thus reassured himself he would walk away slowly to the extreme corner of the room where, likely as not, he would chat to a friend about matters far removed from chess. – Unknown Source

I was surprised to see that Capablanca did not initiate any active maneuvers and instead adopted a waiting game. In the end, his opponent made an imprecise move, the Cuban won a second pawn and soon the game. 'Why didn't you try to convert your material advantage straight away?' I ventured to ask the great chess virtuoso. He smiled indulgently: 'It was more practical to wait'. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Once in a lobby of the Hall of Columns of the Trade Union Center in Moscow a group of masters were analyzing an ending. They could not find the right way to go about things and there was a lot of arguing about it. Suddenly Capablanca came into the room. He was always find of walking about when it was his opponent's turn to move. Learning the reason for the dispute the Cuban bent down to the position, said 'Si, si,' and suddenly redistributed the pieces all over the board to show what the correct formation was for the side trying to win. I haven't exaggerated. Don Jose literally pushed the pieces around the board without making moves. He just put them in fresh positions where he thought they were needed. Suddenly everything became clear. The correct scheme of things had been set up and now the win was easy. We were delighted by Capablanca's mastery. – Alexander Kotov

During the last twenty years, Capablanca has contested in successive tournaments, and his games form a series of classics, noted chiefly for their grace and simplicity. This simplicity is, of course, the result of that art which conceals art. – B. Winkleman

He makes the game look easy. Art lies in the concealment of art. – Philip W. Sergeant (on Capablanca)

Capablanca had that art which hides art to an overwhelming degree. – Harry Golombek

I have known many chess players, but only one chess genius, Capablanca. – Emanuel Lasker

I think Capablanca had the greatest natural talent. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Capablanca was possibly the greatest player in the entire history of chess. – Bobby Fischer.

Beautiful, cold, remorseless chess, almost creepy in its silent implacability. – Raymond Chandler (on a Capablanca game)

What others could not see in a month's study, he saw at a glance. – Reuben Fine (on Capablanca)

I see only one move ahead, but it is always the correct one. – Jose R. Capablanca

Capablanca invariably chose the right option, no matter how intricate the position. – Garry Kasparov.

Capablanca’s games generally take the following course: he begins with a series of extremely fine prophylactic maneuvers, which neutralize his opponent’s attempts to complicate the game; he then proceeds, slowly but surely, to set up an attacking position. This attacking position, after a series of simplifications, is transformed into a favorable endgame, which he conducts with matchless technique. – Aaron Nimzowitsch

He had the totally undeserved reputation of being the greatest living endgame player. His trick was to keep his openings simple and then play with such brilliance that it was decided in the middle game before reaching the ending - even though his opponent didn't always know it. His almost complete lack of book knowledge forced him to push harder to squeeze the utmost out of every position. – Bobby Fischer (on Capablanca)

I honestly feel very humble when I study Capablanca's games. – Max Euwe

You cannot play chess unless you have studied his games. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Capablanca)

I did not believe I was superior to him. Perhaps the chief reason for his defeat was the overestimation of his own powers arising out of his overwhelming victory in New York, 1927, and his underestimation of mine. – Alexander Alekhine (on Capablanca)

With his death, we have lost a very great chess genius whose like we shall never see again. – Alexander Alekhine (on Capablanca)

Alekhine was the rock-thrower, Capablanca the man who made it all seem easy. – Hans Ree

Capablanca is smart; Alekhine is clever. – Source Unknown

It was impossible to win against Capablanca; against Alekhine it was impossible to play. – Paul Keres

Against Alekhine you never knew what to expect. Against Capablanca, you knew what to expect, but you couldn't prevent it! – George Thomas

Capa's games looked as though they were turned out by a lathe, while Alekhine's resembled something produced with a mallet and chisel. – Charles Yaffe

A new Steinitz was all to soon snatched from us. – Richard Reti (on the early death of Gyula Breyer)

What really made him outstanding was his fascinating personality. With Tartakower among the participants, any tournament had color and life. The European custom of keeping the players together in their spare time and having them stay in the same hotel, even having them eat in a dining room all to themselves, gave Tartakower plenty of opportunity to shine as the splendid and highly original conversationalist and raconteur that he was. He could make a rather serious complaint and explain his case from many different angles in all earnestness and, without making any jokes at all, keep his audience bent over with laughter with his scintillating way of reasoning, the elegant somersaults of his logic, and his unexpected conclusions. He liked to play with words, metaphors, conclusions, and contradictions as if they were chess pieces. Once, at the inaugural meeting of a tournament, when an unusual suggestion that no one liked was about to be rejected, Tartakower rose and supported it so eloquently that the motion carried with only a single opposing vote - Tartakower's! – Hans Kmoch

In my opinion the true cause of my triumph resided in the moral basis I had imposed on myself throughout the contest. As I had rightly supposed, the effect, or, at any rate, the depressing recollection of the great miseries, losses and anguish that were suffered during the war with Hitler still weighed heavily on the spirits of all the participants, even including those coming from the neutral countries (Sweden, Switzerland) or from fortunate America. Consequently, I resolved to concentrate all my efforts on not thinking about it at all; that it to say, on banishing it from my memory for the duration of the tournament, all these phantoms of the recent past: and this ensured my tranquility of spirit and serenity of mind, both attributes so vitally necessary for any victory in the realm of sport. – Saviely Tartakower

I make errors, therefore I am! – Saviely Tartakower

Those chess lovers who ask me how many moves I usually calculate in advance, when making a combination, are always astonished when I reply, quite truthfully, 'as a rule not a single one.' – Richard Reti

Reti studies mathematics although he is not a dry mathematician; represents Vienna without being Viennese; was born in old Hungary yet he does not know Hungarian; speaks uncommonly rapidly only in order to act all the more maturely and deliberately; and will become the best chessplayer without, however, becoming world champion. – Saviely Tartakower

On a motif such as was indicated by Reti, one cannot build the plan of a whole well contested game; it is too meager, too thin, too puny for such an end. Reti's explanations, wherever they are concerned with an analysis which covers a few moves, are correct and praiseworthy. But when he abandons the foundations of analysis in order to draw too bold, too general a conclusion, his arguments prove to be mistaken. – Emanuel Lasker

It is a good thing you were not born 100 years ago, or they would have burned you at the stake! – Source Unknown (on Reti's famous 'White to play and draw' ending)

The late master was one of my most dangerous opponents, and I must honestly admit that he surpassed me in terms of richness of ideas in the opening. In almost every game he played against me he invented something new. Yet perhaps his strength lay not so much in the discovery of a new move or a hitherto unknown tactical finesse as in a new strategy. Very frequently, and within just a few moves, I would find myself in a lost position against him without knowing exactly how it had happened. – Rudolf Spielmann (on Reti)

Nimzowitsch's games are witch chess, heathen and beautiful. – Source Unknown

Nimzowitsch was a mad, twisted genius…but still a genius. – Kelly Atkins

He has a profound liking for ugly opening moves. – Siegbert Tarrasch (on Nimzowitsch)

If there were a difficult way to play a chess game, Nimzowitsch would find it. – R. E. Fauber

One associates the direct, positive action of an Alekhine, or a Fischer, with a homogeneous, harmonious unity of chess style, as opposed to the duality and indirection which pervade Nimzowitsch. – Raymond Keene

With Nimzowitsch, we see a powerful awareness of the presence of the opponent as someone who must be restrained or provoked. – Raymond Keene

Why must I lose to this idiot?! – Aaron Nimzowitsch

If I had not been the son of well-off parents, I could hardly have allowed myself the luxury (and such it is) of sacrificing my time for chess. However, I was happy enough to be it, and, because I love chess (as I do theater and film by the way), I was able to - I’d almost say - waste a large part of my time and energy on it. Chess professionalism as such is an impossible business and should, in fact, be forbidden. So much for my attitude towards chess. – Aaron Nimzowitsch

He lived in and for chess like no one before him, nor any since until Fischer. – Taylor Kingston (on Alekhine)

No other author or player has so scientifically reduced chess playing to the application of a number of clearly defined principles and rules. Compared with this, chess playing has heretofore been without system - just a haphazard exhibition of natural aptitude or skill or the want of it. Chess players were born, not made, but now that era is finished; Nimzowitsch has systematized chess play. – W. H. Watts

Aaron Nimzowitsch was so anti-dogmatic in his views that he was almost dogmatic in his anti-dogmatism. – Steve Lopez

Nimzowitsch wasn't truly happy unless he was angry. He enjoyed nothing better than a good argument. It was really due to the fact that he was a sensitive man. His feelings were easily hurt, so to avoid such pain, he took the offensive. It's sad, really, because he was actually a very sweet man, very kind-hearted. I suppose life disappointed him a great deal. – Steve Lopez

For all his eccentricity and bombast, Nimzowitsch loved and understood chess as few men have ever done. – Taylor Kingston

I never make a mistake on the first move! – Ernst Grunfeld

A new genius has arisen in the world of chess! – Aaron Nimzowitsch (speaking of Carlos Torre in 1925)

When I have the white pieces, I have the advantage because I am white. When I have the black pieces, I have the advantage because I am Bogoljubow. – Efim Bogoljubow

He often hopes for a miracle in situations where precise knowledge is needed. – Alexander Alekhine (on Efim Bogoljubow)

Bogoljubov`s play was sound and his style primarily positional. In addition he had a tactical talent which came into its own especially when his opponent had been outplayed strategically. His weak point lay in his optimism and lack of objectivity. – Max Euwe

Spielmann's main concern in life, apart from Chess, was to accumulate enough money to buy limitless quantities of beer! – Reuben Fine

He had his pocket set in front of him and was studying his adjourned position with utter absorption, swaying like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. When the waiter put the soup next to the pocket set Spielmann never noticed it, but kept staring at the position and swaying to and fro from left to right and back again. After a while, the waiter anxious to serve the next course, bent down to the master's ear, told him that the soup was getting cold, and pressed a spoon into his hand. Spielmann nodded and, without ever taking his eyes of the chess board, he gripped the spoon and started ladling the soup. Not a sip reached the master's mouth: Spielmann just want on staring intently, swaying rhythmically and just as constantly ladling spoonful after spoonful on to his lap. – George Thomas

I like to play combinations, some of them intuitive and not fully calculated. – Rudolf Spielmann

From Anderssen I learned the art of making combinations; from Tarrasch how advantageously to avoid making them. – Rudolf Spielmann

Alekhine's chess is like a god's. – Chess World Magazine

In playing through an Alekhine game one suddenly meets a move which simply takes one's breath away. – C. H. O'D. Alexander

Alekhine is a poet who creates a work of art out of something that would hardly inspire another man to send home a picture post card. – Max Euwe

No master before or since sank himself with greater gusto into what Vladimir Nabokov called Caissa’s “abysmal depths." – Larry Parr (on Alekhine)

Capablanca never took his eyes off the chorus; Alekhine never looked up from his pocket chess set. – A patron who took both players to a show in 1922

Capablanca was the greatest talent, but Alekhine was the greatest in his achievements. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Sir, I am the book! – Alexander Alekhine (to a player who, not realizing who Alekhine was, had commented on each of Alekhine's moves with, "The book says…")

The openings consist of Alekhine's games with a few variations. – Source Unknown

While he was hospitalized (during WW I) after being wounded (a contusion of the spine), he became the strongest blindfold chess player in the world. That's how great this guy was. I mean, when normal people go to the hospital, they are totally sad and in pain. Instead, he devoted himself to blindfold chess and became the best in the world in an extremely short period of time. You have to love this guy. – Terry Crandall (on Alekhine)

Since we are, of course, the two best blindfold players in the world, I think it would be better if we had recourse to a chessboard and men. – Alexander Alekhine (to Reti when they disagreed during a blindfold analysis session)

Analyze! Analyze! Analyze! That was the doctor’s motto, and his deeply ingrained habit of investigating every line was obviously unsuitable in rapid transit. – Arthur Dake (on Alekhine's relative weakness in rapid play)

I learned a lot about how the world champion analyzed chess positions. Alekhine taught me to sit on my hands and not to play the first move that came to mind, no matter how good it looked. He examined everything, whipping through an astonishing number of variations. – Arnold Denker

Alekhine's attacks came suddenly, like destructive thunderstorms that erupted from a clear sky. – Garry Kasparov

I can comprehend Alekhine's combinations well enough; but where he gets his attacking chances from and how he infuses such life into the very opening - that is beyond me. – Rudolf Spielmann

I can see the combinations as well as Alekhine, but I cannot get into the same positions. – Rudolf Spielmann

Somehow the match will never take place. – Alexander Alekhine (on his avoidance of a rematch with Capablanca)

It is bad to be a self-centered manipulative alcoholic liar who seduces women for their money. – Taylor Kingston (on Alekhine, of course)

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

Alekhine is a player I've never really understood; yet, strangely, if you've seen one Alekhine game you've seen them all. He always wanted a superior center; he maneuvered his pieces towards the King's-side, and around the twenty-fifth move began to mate his opponent. – Bobby Fischer

Never a hero of mine. His style worked for him, but it could scarcely work for anybody else. His conceptions were gigantic, full of outrageous and unprecedented ideas. It's hard to find mistakes in his games, but in a sense his whole method was a mistake.
– Bobby Fischer (on Alekhine)

Fortune favors the bold, especially when they are Alekhine. – Lodewijk Prins

I am Alekhine, chess champion of the world. I need no passport. – Alexander Alekhine

What I do is not play but struggle. – Alexander Alekhine

I have had to work long and hard to eradicate the dangerous delusion that, in a bad position, I could always, or nearly always, conjure up some unexpected combination to extricate me from my difficulties. – Alexander Alekhine

Chess for me is not a game, but an art. Yes, and I take upon myself all those responsibilities which an art imposes on its adherents. – Alexander Alekhine

I study chess eight hours a day, on principle. – Alexander Alekhine

I'm very glad you asked me that, because, as it happens, there is a very simple answer. I think up my own moves, and I make my opponent think up his. – Alexander Alekhine (on being asked how it was that he picked better moves than his opponents)

To win against me, you must beat me three times: in the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. – Alexander Alekhine

I assure you Sir, that the story of your life in all its unsavory and sordid details, will be paraded before the Court. – Frank Graves (USCF president, to Norman Whitaker)

A few people know that I had to repeat a year at secondary school, and this unpleasant experience may have had a decisive influence on the whole of my life. I felt that I had failed in my duty to my parents and resolved to concentrate absolutely in future on whatever I should happen to take up. – Max Euwe

There is a conviction, deeply rooted in the Netherlands, that no Dutchman can ever achieve anything worthwhile. Euwe was so upset when he became world champion that he got rid of the title as soon as possible. – Jan Hein Donner

Nothing infuriates me more, than to hear Max Euwe described as the ‘weakest of world champions’ who made it to the top only because of Alekhine’s alcoholism. – Arnold Denker

Logic personified; a genius of law and order. – Hans Kmoch (on Euwe)

Does the general public, do even our friends the critics realize that Euwe virtually never made an unsound combination? He may, of course, occasionally fail to take account of an opponent’s combination, but when he has the initiative in a tactical operation his calculation is impeccable. – Alexander Alekhine

There’s something wrong with that man. He’s too normal. – Bobby Fischer (on Max Euwe)

The day in 1964 when I made professor. – Max Euwe (on being asked what the greatest day of his life had been)

Euwe can only breathe freely when he is smothered in work. – Hans Kmoch

Euwe resting would not be Euwe. His star is work, work, and more work. Work is his entertainment, his strength and his destiny. – Hans Kmoch

If Richard Reti was interested only in the exceptions to positional rules, then Max Euwe believed perhaps a little too much in their immutability. – Alexander Alekhine

He is logic personified, a genius of law and order. One would hardly call him an attacking player, yet he strides confidently into some extraordinarily complex variations. – Hans Kmoch (on Euwe)

That rock of safety and correctness. – Saviely Tartakower (on Salo Flohr)

I won't play with you anymore. You have insulted my friend. – Miguel Najdorf (to an opponent who had cursed himself for a blunder)

Gideon Stahlberg was the best combination player of all time - the best at combining chess with alcohol. – Bent Larsen

He has contributed a few notorious drawing variations to chess theory and obviously holds to the firm belief that winning or losing is an abnormal end to a chess game. – Jan Hein Donner (on Trifunovic)

If you play Botvinnik, it is even alarming to see him write his move down. Slightly short-sighted, he stoops over his score sheet and devotes his entire attention to recording the move in the most beautifully clear script; one feels that an explosion would not distract him and that examined through a microscope not an irregularity would appear. When he wrote down 1.c2-c4 against me, I felt like resigning. – Hugh Alexander

Yes, I have played a blitz game once. It was on a train, in 1929. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Young man, remember this: I never played chess for pleasure. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on having it suggested to him in his latter years, that he play blitz chess for fun)

Am I to understand you are unfamiliar with my game from the 1927 Soviet Metal Worker's Championship? – Mikhail Botvinnik (to a young Piket)

Botvinnik could play clear positions well but was unafraid of complications - perhaps the secret being that they too were clear to Botvinnik. – Dave Regis

Botvinnik almost makes you feel that difficulty attracts him and stimulates him to the full unfolding of his powers. Most players feel uncomfortable in difficult positions, but Botvinnik seems to enjoy them. Where dangers threaten from every side and the smallest slackening of attention might be fatal; in a position which requires nerves of steel and intense concentration, Botvinnik is in his element. – Max Euwe

Botvinnik tried to take the mystery out of chess, always relating it to situations in ordinary life. He used to call chess a typical inexact problem similar to those which people are always having to solve in everyday life. – Garry Kasparov

Of course, I would have crushed him! You know, every chess champion has a period in his life when he is just in a class by himself, and if for Alekhine it was the period from 1927 till 1934, for me it was from 1941 through 1948. Nobody could have beaten me at the time. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on the never played match with Alekhine)

Boris Verlinsky was stripped of the grandmaster title to make Botvinnik the first official grandmaster of the USSR. – David Bronstein

I begin my actual preparations with a review of chess literature, especially in order to acquaint myself with new and interesting games; as I read I make notes on questions which are of particular interest to me. I also study all the games played by my rivals in the forthcoming competition. I study their peculiarities of play, and their favorite opening variations; this should be especially useful when preparing for each game during the tournament. Then I study all those opening lines, which I intend to apply during the contest. Here I must remark that in my view a player should not, and indeed cannot attempt to play all the openings known to theory. For one competition three or four opening systems for White and the same for Black are quite sufficient. But these systems must be prepared thoroughly. If you do not have such systems at your command you can hardly count on finishing very high in the table. – Mikhail Botvinnik

I can only think when I am calm. – Mikhail Botvinnik

He has become a real school of how to avoid superficiality. – Bobby Fischer (on Botvinnik)

We all view ourselves as Botvinnik's pupils, and further generations will learn by his games. – Tigran Petrosian

He has made himself at home in each department of the game: opening, positional strategy, combinative tactics and endplay, so that it is impossible to say that he is stronger in one brand of play than another. His best games have the smoothness of an epic poem, rolling on grandly to their appointed end. – William Winter (on Botvinnik)

If I win, it was a sacrifice. If I lose, then it was a mistake. – George Koltanowski

Wherever I went, great crowds turned out to see me play. For four years, I was on public view. People stared at me, poked at me, tried to hug me, asked me questions. Professors measured my cranium and psychoanalyzed me. Reporters interviewed me and wrote fanciful stories about my future. Photographers were forever aiming their cameras at me. It was, of course, an unnatural life for a child, but it had its compensations and I cannot truthfully say that I did not enjoy it. There was the thrill of traveling from city to city with my family, the excitement of playing hundreds of games of chess and winning most of them, the knowledge that there was something "special" about the way I played chess, although I didn't know why. – Samuel Reshevsky

When I was a child touring Europe and the United States as a chess prodigy, my performances were the subject of much speculation. Everyone was curious to know how an eight-year-old boy could beat graybeards at their own game. People continually pestered me for an explanation. I could not answer their questions then, nor can I do so now. Chess was, for me, a natural function, like breathing. It required no conscious effort. The correct moves in a game occurred to me as spontaneously as I drew breath. If you consider the difficulty you might have in accounting for that everyday action, you will have some inkling of my dilemma in trying to explain my chess ability. – Samuel Reshevsky

This much, however, is clear: if one decides to make chess a profession, a childhood devoted to the game cannot possibly be a handicap. In my own case, chess has always been the medium in which I feel most at home: at a chessboard I express myself in my mother tongue. – Samuel Reshevsky

You play war. I play chess. – Samuel Reshevsky (to a German officer whom the child prodigy had just defeated in a game)

My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian. – Samuel Reshevsky

Reshevsky often wins with black; there arise lively positions in which his tactical preparedness counts for a lot. – Max Euwe

Always one more than my opponent! – Samuel Reshevsky (on being asked how many moves ahead he sees)

He played from the very first move for the better ending. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Reshevsky)

By playing slowly during the early phases of a game I am able to grasp the basic requirements of each position. Then, despite being in time pressure, I have no difficulty in finding the best continuation. Incidentally, it is an odd fact that more often than not it is my opponent who gets the jitters when I am compelled to make these hurried moves. – Samuel Reshevsky

Although we played on a par with the best of that time, our own games displayed a fantastic series of blunders. Either he rescued a lost position against me, or I did against him. Nor were these subtle mistakes; many of them were so obvious that the rankest amateur could have seen them. Each wanted to beat the other, yet unconsciously each was reluctant to do so.
– Reuben Fine (on his games with Reshevsky)

From 1946 to 1956, probably the best in the world, though his opening knowledge was less than any other leading player. Like a machine calculating every variation, he found moves over the board by a process of elimination and often got into fantastic time pressure. – Bobby Fischer (on Reshevsky)

Reshevsky's style of play was that of a tough and determined positional player who could nevertheless play the most brilliant tactical chess if the need arose. Always somewhat deficient from a theoretical point of view, he frequently used vast amounts of time in the opening and found himself at odds with the clock. Yet at these moments he was at his most dangerous, often playing brilliantly despite having only a minute or two for twenty moves. – Nigel Davies

The likelihood of the Stalin regime blithely allowing him in 1948 to become World Chess Champion, and thereby a major representative of Soviet Culture, was comparable to that of a Mormon becoming Pope. – Taylor Kingston (on Keres)

The older I get, the more I value pawns. – Paul Keres

Keres had a tendency to fade somewhat at decisive moments in the struggle. When his mood was spoiled he played well below his capabilities. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Had it not been for him, during the period 1938-1948 I would have been unable to advance so far in chess. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Keres)

The greatest loss to chess since the death of Alekhine. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on the death of Keres)

David Bronstein is famous for having a highly improvisational approach to his games in which he aims not so much to control the play and bludgeon his opponent to death scientifically. Instead, he aims to plunge into a beautiful adventure in which his extraordinary intuition will come to bear. – Nigel Davies

In the position, the idea did not exist; I conceived it myself and forced it to work for me. – David Bronstein

David Ionovich Bronstein, I beg you, please play seriously against the American team tomorrow. In our Soviet Championships you can experiment as much as you like. – Nikolai Romanov

It is my style to take my opponent and myself onto unknown grounds. A game of chess is not an examination of knowledge; it is a battle of nerves. – David Bronstein

In the majority of lengthy and very lengthy combinations achieved by myself, the basis was not just calculation, but a belief in the logical strength of a position, in the readiness of resources, and their harmonious coordination. – David Bronstein

Clear, logical positions, while they contain less emotion, have their own unique charm, and with the passing of years I have come to appreciate this better. – David Bronstein

I started from the premise that every full-bodied game of chess is an artistic endeavor arising out of the battle of chess ideas. – David Bronstein

By not winning the title I have put a shadow on my chess career and it is a little sad that I have to read and hear for more than 40 years that I am not a good player. It seems that all my other achievements in chess have been ignored. – David Bronstein

Befitting his monumental stature and imposing appearance, he is what may be called a stately walker. He walks in slow and measured step, his hands invariably folded behind his broad back, and his magnificently large head slightly bent, as if he were deeply in thought (and he probably is). He never stirs very far from his board, hardly ever more than some twelve or fifteen measured paces, which he will slowly, very slowly, take to and fro, up and down. And no one has ever seen him hurry back if he happens to be at the far end when his opponent punches his clock. – Unknown Source (on Smyslov)

I consider chess an art. I grew up in an atmosphere filled with music and chess. – Vasily Smyslov

He plays a hideously crooked kind of chess. If correct play and judgment were what counted, he would never win a game. He hasn't got a clue. He is the worst player in the whole wide world. – Jan Hein Donner (on Lodewijk Prins)

Prins was in his element. Utter nonsense proved a complete success. It is a sad thing that a player of his level must rate officially as the strongest in Holland. Ugh. – Jan Hein Donner (on Prins winning the Dutch chess championship)

I selected from tournament books those games in which the greatest complications had arisen. Then set myself the task of thinking long and hard so as to analyze all the possible variations. I would sometimes write down the variations I had examined and then I would compare them with those of the annotator. – Alexander Kotov

I think I blunder more than other Grandmasters. Mostly I specialize in Rook Blunders, which I have done at least a dozen times! – Pal Benko

Nezhmetdinov, this nondescript short man, wearing the same suit for years and living on several cups of extremely strong tea a day, was burning himself with the best fire in the world, the search of Eternal Beauty, did not belong to the elite. For this he was too much of a genius. – Lev Khariton

Rashid Nezhmetdinov, with whose games I made my first acquaintance through the excellent books by Koblentz, has ever since my youngest chess days been my greatest secret hero. Why "secret"? Well, because there was simply no point in praising the beauty of his games to my mates since none of them had ever heard of Nezhmetdinov. Only from a certain Mr. Korchnoi did I earn an approving nod. – Richard Forster

Well, color won't matter. Nezhmetdinov can play any opening. Somewhere he will sacrifice a pawn for the initiative. Then he will sacrifice another. Then he will sacrifice a piece for an attack. The he'll probably sacrifice another piece to drive your king in the center. Then he will checkmate you. – Unknown trainer to his student, Alexey Suetin

With the passing of time, tournament tables tend to lose interest but some games played in these tournaments live forever, and in this respect Nezhmetdinov was one of the most richly endowed players. – Nigel Davies

The greatest master of the initiative. – Lev Polugaevsky (on Nezhmetdinov)

Nobody sees combinations as Rashid Nezhmetdinov. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Sunk in thought for a long time, I understood that I was to say good-by to all hope and was losing a game that would be spread all over the world. – Lev Polugaevsky (on a loss to Nezhmetdinov)

When I lost to Nezhmetdinov!! – Mikhail Tal (on the happiest day of his life)

Tal enjoys excitement and hair-raising complications, and in that kind of game he can find his way around better than anyone else. – Paul Keres

Believe me, playing in such a style, this guy has no chess future. – Peter Romanovsky (on a young Tal)

I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind. – Mikhail Tal

Tal could play just about any opening well, but he took risks. All he needed was a chance to attack and the position would explode in fireworks, he had a genius for bold middlegame play. – Source Unknown

When Spassky offers you a piece, you may just as well resign, but when Tal offers you a piece, go on playing, he may sacrifice another, and then ... who knows? – Miguel Najdorf

Tal doesn't move the pieces by hand; he uses a magic wand. – Vyacheslav Ragozin

The chess pieces in Tal's hands radiated magical energy. Tal quickly became the favorite of chess fans all around the world. People attended the games of the "chess magician" for the same reasons the spectators had listened to the violinist-virtuoso Paganini. – Valery Tsaturian

The chess story of Mikhail Tal is about the act itself of straining against the leash of limited human imagination to create mammoth combinations on the chessboard. During his games, Tal wished to go where no chess player had ever gone before, choosing the middlegame as his métier for creative expression. He burned energy profligately. A chain-smoker and a heavy drinker, Tal pulsated nervous energy, pacing like a caged tiger in between moves. And as a young man with those famous fierce, hooded eyes and that imposing hooked nose, he bulldozed all before him. – Larry Parr

I think that I lost to him, because he beat me! He was very well prepared for the second match. Botvinnik knew my play better than I knew his. – Mikhail Tal

I did not take the tournament too seriously. I walked around the pressroom, smoked a few cigarettes and sacrificed some pieces. I am waiting until next year when I can become a new ex-world champion. – Mikhail Tal (on the '88 World Blitz Championship, which he won)

There are two kinds of sacrifices; correct ones and mine. – Mikhail Tal

Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine. – Mikhail Tal

First, how to sac my queen, then rook, then bishop, then knight, then pawns. – Mikhail Tal (on what he thinks about after his opponent moves)

I'd be glad to get to Heaven, but my sins won't allow it! – Mikhail Tal

During the night I dreamed and unintelligible ideas connected about an adjourned game. On resumption, I found it! – Mikhail Tal

I will not hide the fact that I love to hear the spectators react after a sacrifice of a piece or pawn. – Mikhail Tal

Tal develops all his pieces in the center and then sacrifices them somewhere. – David Bronstein

They compare me with Lasker, which is an exaggerated honor. Lasker made mistakes in every game and I only in every second one! – Mikhail Tal

Tal was a fearless fighter. Nobody could successfully accomplish so many incorrect maneuvers! He simply smashed his opponents. – Bent Larsen

Later, I began to succeed in decisive games. Perhaps because I realized a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but also my opponent. – Mikhail Tal

Even after losing four games in a row to him I still consider his play unsound. He is always on the lookout for some spectacular sacrifice, that one shot, that dramatic breakthrough to give him the win. – Bobby Fischer (on Tal)

Tal's genius consists of posing his opponents with tempting ways to go wrong. – Larry Evans

I was surprised by his ability to figure out complex variations. Then the way he sets out the game; he was not interested in the objectivity of the position, whether it's better or worse, he only needed room for his pieces. All you do then is figure out variations which are extremely difficult. He was tactically outplaying me and I made mistakes. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Tal)

I realized that you cannot tackle him if the pieces are mobile and active. I played closed positions in which Tal could gain no advantage. Tal had no positional understanding for closed games. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on their '61 rematch)

If Tal would learn to program himself properly, then it would become quite impossible to play against him. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Botvinnik’s right! When he says such things, then he’s right. Usually, I prefer not to study chess but to play it. For me chess is more an art than a science. It’s been said that Alekhine and I played similar chess, except that he studied more. Yes, perhaps, but I have to say that he played, too. – Mikhail Tal

When I lost the title to Botvinnik, chess could be played quietly again! – Mikhail Tal

Mother, I have just become Ex-World Champion. – Mikhail Tal (on returning home after losing the '61 rematch to Botvinnik)

Sometimes I wonder what would we have thought of Mikhail Tal had he stayed as a World Champion for 20+ years? Would his name have been associated with everything the Soviet Chess bureaucrats, Bykhovsky and Postovsky, Yudovich and Dvorkovich, and many others whose names I can't rhyme, has done? Would Tal have become a villain? Or would Spassky if he hadn't lost to Bobby in 1972. Like Boris said, he only felt relief when it happened. – Alex Yermolinsky

It's funny, but many people don't understand why I draw so many games nowadays. They think my style must have changed but this is not the case at all. The answer to this drawing disease is that my favorite squares are e6, f7, g7 and h7 and everyone now knows this. They protect these squares not once but four times! – Mikhail Tal

If you wait for luck to turn up, life becomes very boring. – Mikhail Tal

In chess, at least, the brave inherit the earth. – Edmar Mednis (commenting on Tal)

For him chess was his life. Without the game he could not exist. – Engelina Tal (on her late husband Mikhail)

He was a player and he always wanted to play. Once, long ago, he was in Amsterdam for a few days on a tour of simultaneous exhibitions and surprised me by saying: "If you want to play some blitz games, just call me at the hotel." Just like that, as in a story for children. You, ex-world champion, play with me, beginning young master? I didn't know then that he always wanted to play chess, if necessary with the waiter. – Hans Ree (on Tal)

The man who has proved that you can reach the top and remain human. – Mikhail Tal (on who his chess hero was)

My head is full of sunshine. – Mikhail Tal

I couldn’t make myself dislike him. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Tal)

The guy ate and breathed the game. If he wasn't playing in a tournament he was playing blitz or talking about the latest chess news; nobody adored chess as much as Tal did! – Jeremy Silman

In a world where most players have grudges against most other players - Korchnoi hates everyone, Kasparov hates Karpov, Shirov hates Kasparov, Fischer thinks everyone is out to get him, etc., etc. - Tal was the only chess personality who appeared to be loved by virtually everyone. Even Fischer adored the guy. – Jeremy Silman

With the initiative Petrosian often played like a python, squeezing and squeezing the victim until he was almost happy to resign. When the chances were balanced, Petrosian was like a mongoose deflecting every thrust. – Larry Parr

It does not really matter, as long as it is an extra one. – Tigran Petrosian (on which was his favorite chess piece)

I know I am not on form when the best move is not the one that first comes to my mind. – Tigran Petrosian

He was perfectly aware that by losing half a point in some tournament he could anger his bosses, thereby cutting himself off from international competitions. It happened to some of his colleagues - the far more daring Tal, for example - and Petrosian did not want to be just another victim at the hands of Baturinsky, Krogius and the like. Therefore all his fantastic talent was eaten up by never-ending calculations - he knew exactly, long before the tournament, with whom he would draw the games and whom he would beat. Today's formula of a super-pragmatic chess player "plus 4, or plus 5" started with Petrosian. – Lev Khariton

It was really hard to play Tigran. The thing is that he had a somewhat different understanding of positional play. He went deeper into it than usual, and myself, a universal player, did not completely understand Tigran’s way and depth of judgment, although I was judging all positions well. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on their '63 match)

The depth of Tigran’s approach to chess is the direct consequence of his clear mind and his rare insight into general aspects of chess, into subtleties of chess tactics and strategy. Petrosian performed a special kind of art in creating harmonious positions that were full of life, where apparent absence of superficial dynamism was compensated by enormous inner energy. Every subtle change in the position was always taken into consideration in the context of a complex strategy that was not obvious to his opponents. – Garry Kasparov

Tigran was enraptured by Bronstein's play - the bursts of fantasy, the sparkle of combinations - but he continued to trust Ebralidze, Nimzowitsch and Capablanca. – El Shekhtman

Petrosian was a player who spent more time considering his opponent’s possibilities than his own. – Paul Keres

One must beware of unnecessary excitement. – Tigran Petrosian

Some consider that when I play I am excessively cautious, but it seems to me that the question may be a different one. I try to avoid chance. Those who rely on chance should play cards or roulette. Chess is something quite different. – Tigran Petrosian

They say my chess games should be more interesting. I could be more interesting - and also lose. – Tigran Petrosian

My life has been determined by the move e2-e1=N. – Johan Barendregt

Averbakh, though he did attack (as every player needs to do, no matter what his personal inclination), appears to have gotten an almost ecstatic joy in trading the Queens and heading for an endgame as quickly as possible. – Jeremy Silman

Going out into the fresh air, although there was a strong wind and a light Autumn rain was falling, I wandered around a forest, not following any paths, until I found myself on the banks of a small lake, edged with boulders. I sat down on a bend that opportunely appeared, and began gazing at the water. I sat there for at least half an hour. Strangely enough, this calmed my nerves that had been so angered by the vexing defeat. Incidentally, realizing that water had a pacifying effect on me, on more than one subsequent occasion I got myself back into a normal state after an especially nervy encounter, by observing the surface of water. – Yuri Averbakh

At one point, after having already become a Grandmaster and champion of the USSR, I suddenly realized that I am heading for a dead end... I had to start everything over. But how hard and agonizing it is when you're no longer 16, but twice that age! – Viktor Korchnoi

You have little understanding about chess! – Viktor Korchnoi (said angrily to a much lower rated player he'd just lost to)

Every time I win a tournament I have to think that there is something wrong with modern chess. – Viktor Korchnoi

Old chess players never die, they just lose their mating ability. The exception to this rule, of course, being none other than Viktor Korchnoi, who seems to be on the chess equivalent of Viagra. – John Henderson

There were thirty-two years between us, which gave me a great advantage in creative energy, but the old fox still knew many chess tricks. – Garry Kasparov (on playing Korchnoi)

I don’t study; I create. – Viktor Korchnoi (on being asked how he studied)

A master of the counterattack, Korchnoi would take great risks at the board. He played to make his opponents impatient and to lure them into issuing aggressive but unsound threats. He would then exploit those threats in a ruthless counterattack -- by thrusting out, cutting off his opponent's line of support, and trapping his opponent's piece. Although this style sometimes backfired, it made for exciting chess at a very high level. – Bruce Pandolfini

Korchnoi’s most remarkable quality is, in my opinion, that he plays all his games with a lot of energy and a tight-lipped face. During a game the word "relax" does not exist for him. On free days and during the closing ceremony, particularly if he has a chance to dance, he is a totally different person. – Geurt Gijssen

I believe that judged by his style of play, Spassky is much closer to Alekhine and Tal than to Smyslov, Botvinnik, or Petrosian. This is probably why, when Spassky was in his best form, neither Tal nor Korchnoi could really put up much resistance against him. Spassky could read their play (especially that of Tal) like an open book. – Garry Kasparov

The universal chess style, characterized by the ability to play quite different types of chess positions, is considered by many to derive from that of Boris Spassky. But I think that the general idea that Spassky has a universal style overlooks the fact that from an early age, Spassky had a bent for sharp, attacking play and a good eye for the initiative. – Garry Kasparov

It is characteristic that Spassky has never in his life started a game with 1.Nf3. He must have considered it a “semi-move”, real moves being only those that lead to an immediate fight. All of those notorious opening peculiarities (such as avoiding this, that, and the other and preventing the other that and this) seemed repulsive to him. – Garry Kasparov

Spassky was the first great chess player to use both 1.e4 and 1.d4 with equal success. He managed to employ these moves more harmoniously than any other world champion. – Garry Kasparov

When I am in form, my style is a little bit stubborn, almost brutal. Sometimes I feel a great spirit of fight which drives me on. – Boris Spassky

One of the soundest attacking players ever, Spassky nonetheless took very few chances. Totally dominant until he lost to the irresistible juggernaut known as Bobby Fischer. After that loss, he was never the same. – Bruce Pandolfini

Spassky sacrifices his pieces with the utmost imperturbability. He can blunder away a piece, and you are never sure whether it's a blunder or a fantastically deep sacrifice. He sits at the board with the same dead expression whether he's mating or being mated. – Bobby Fischer

He was less concerned about the position’s evaluation than about the character of the arising struggle. If he liked the character of the battle, he felt absolutely at home and, as a rule, didn’t fail to outplay his opponents. – Garry Kasparov (on Spassky)

We were like bishops of opposite color. – Boris Spassky (on the breakup of his first marriage)

After I won the title, I was confronted with the real world. People do not behave naturally anymore - hypocrisy is everywhere. – Boris Spassky

In my country, at that time, being a champion of chess was like being a King. At that time I was a King … and when you are King you feel a lot of responsibility, but there is nobody there to help you. – Boris Spassky

I don’t want ever to be champion again. – Boris Spassky

It's sad, misleading, and grossly unfair that Spassky is best known as the guy who lost to Fischer. There was so much more to the man and the player. He simply had the misfortune to be mayor of Tokyo when Godzilla rose from the sea. – Kelly Atkins

I enjoy life, sometimes with a good bottle of wine! But don't count on me in tournaments that demand a lot of nervous energy, like the French championship. I am empty; these are not for me anymore. – Boris Spassky

There are more pictures of Spassky standing before audiences of chess enthusiasts, who are rocking backwards in their chairs with delighted laughter, than there are of him sitting at a chessboard. He can act the clown while maintaining a dignified reserve - a gift unique among the humorless lot in the chess world. – Larry Parr

The Cary Grant of the 64 Squares. – Larry Parr (on Spassky)

At a strictly personal level, if not to the manor born, Spassky was certainly to the gracious manner born. – Larry Parr

Highly cultured with interests in all fields of human knowledge, a man of impeccable comportment, great modesty ... one of the favorites of all chessplayers. – Max Euwe (on Spassky)

Were it not for those darned knights, I would have been a Grandmaster. – Dr. Robert McCready

You are for me the Queen on d8. And I am the pawn on d7!! – Eduard Gufeld (in a love letter to his future wife)

For me, chess is life and every game is like a new life. Every chess player gets to live many lives in one lifetime. – Eduard Gufeld

For some years that tournament was my life. When serious problems arose in the games, lawns would remain unmowed and fences unrepaired, my business would be neglected, and I would work with Portland sets far into the small hours, so that, for a time, my eyes were badly affected. – C. J. S. Purdy (on the 1st World CC Championship)

Purdy was one of the finest chess journalists of all time, and his writings addressed to the chess student, to the player of less than master strength, are about the best to be had. – Ralph Tykodi

I have a win, but it will take time. – C. J. S. Purdy (his final words after suffering a fatal heart attack while playing in a tournament)

The romance of chess held an irresistible attraction for me. I did not yet understand the strict logicality of the laws of chess strategy, which I frequently broke for the sake of cavalier attacks on the enemy king. I was often punished, but I did not complain, since the emotional satisfaction from a successful brilliant attack accompanied by a cascade of sacrifices more than compensated for any isolated misfortunes. – Efim Geller

I love all positions. Give me a difficult positional game, I will play it. Give me a bad position, I will defend it. Openings, endgames, complicated positions, dull draws, I love them and I will do my very best. But totally won positions, I cannot stand them. – Jan Hein Donner

My case happens to be less harrowing than it would have been if I had been totally dependent on the Dutch chess world, but not everyone gets the chance to marry a rich woman. – Jan Hein Donner (quite sarcastic, since his wife was by no means rich)

Men want to beat you up, but women want to take care of you. Personally I prefer a beating, because there's an end of it. – Jan Hein Donner

After I resigned this game with perfect self-control and solemnly shook hands with my opponent in the best of Anglo-Saxon traditions, I rushed home, where I threw myself onto my bed, howling and screaming, and pulled the blankets over my face. For three days and three nights the Erinnyes were after me. Then I got up, dressed, kissed my wife and considered my situation. – Jan Hein Donner

Donner was an equal-opportunity curmudgeon. – Taylor Kingston

I often play a move I know how to refute. – Bent Larsen

I do not deliberately play openings that are obviously bad. I emphasize the surprise element, and in some cases this makes me play a variation without being convinced that it is correct. – Bent Larsen

I am a self-made man. I didn’t have an instructor, and I wasn’t engrossed in chess manuals except the books of Nimzowitsch. I just worked a lot playing chess. – Bent Larsen

If I were afraid of what could happen on the chess board, I would do something other than play chess. – Bent Larsen

It was a nightmare that I will never forget! – Bent Larsen (on his 0-6 loss to Fischer in the '71 Candidates Match)

Well, I still have my music. – Mark Taimanov (after being beaten 6-0 by Fischer in their Candidates match)

I played this game with special enthusiasm and endeavor, but, as often happens, when you want not simply to win, but to punish your opponent, your nerves can give way. – Mark Taimanov (on a game vs. Fischer)

Mecking does not understand the significance of weak and strong squares. I have played him three times. In 1969 he lost to me owing to the weakness of his light squares. A year later he presented me with all the dark squares and again suffered defeat. And in the San Antonio tournament of 1972, Grandmaster Mecking again let me have dark-square control, and with it - victory. What distinguishes Mecking is lively piece play, but he has no genuine grasp of the underlying nature of a position; this is what makes me have doubts about his future as a player. – Tigran Petrosian

1978 began dizzily. I was fortunate enough to win all 13 games at a tournament in Alicante. The sound of the surf helped me to sleep, and for a time I believed that this was the reason for such an outstanding result. Subsequently I discovered that the sound of sea helps me to sleep, but not to win. – Alexander Beliavsky

When I win, I feel normal. – Florin Gheorghiu

Mr. (Hans) Berliner is clearly a very intelligent man, but his writings make it clear that (as far as chess goes) he’s either poorly informed, deluded, or the greatest genius chess has ever seen. – Jeremy Silman

Berliner worked out his opening system, based on a system of general principles which he believes in; whereas Sveshnikov took the opposite approach: at an early age, he chose a small set of opening variations (which almost nobody else used at the time), has never wavered from them throughout his chess career, analyzed them in detail, and only then began to formulate the principles underlying the correctness of his choices, and his understanding of the openings. – Mark Dvoretsky

The boy doesn't have a clue about chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession. – Mikhail Botvinnik (referring to a 12-year-old boy named Anatoly Karpov)

In short, we can see Karpov as an exploiter of other people’s ideas. His ability to use these ideas is not at issue, but he himself is about as fertile as a woman who has been sterilized is. – Mikhail Botvinnik

It extremely rarely occurs to him to create something new on the chessboard. – Viktor Korchnoi (on Karpov)

They are good players, Karpov and Kasparov, don't get me wrong, but how good would they be without their coaches, helpers, administrators, cooks, managers, bodyguards? One will never know. – Alex Yermolinsky

He had arranged for top soviet grandmasters to help with his preparation. We must all provide him with information about our openings and variations, all our professional secrets. It was made clear that this was our patriotic duty to the Motherland, for the traitor must be destroyed. Many grandmasters duly obliged and submitted to this official harassment. – Garry Kasparov (on having to assist Karpov in his World Championship match against Korchnoi)

Karpov, the dyed-in-the-wool opportunist, has never been thwarted by matters of principle. – Lev Khariton

I like 1.e4 very much but my results with 1.d4 are better. – Anatoly Karpov

To be champion requires more than simply being a strong player; one has to be a strong human being as well. – Anatoly Karpov

Chess is my life, but my life is not chess. – Anatoly Karpov

They may be rivals, enemies sometimes, but they are bound together like Siamese twins. – Hans Ree (on Kasparov & Karpov)

Those so-called K-K matches for the title were the biggest misery I had in my life - especially the disappointment of losing in Seville. But, you know, despite our history, there’s still a lot of fight in our battles - it’s still a big fight in the eyes of the media. – Anatoly Karpov

For them I will always be ready. – Anatoly Karpov (on getting revenge against players who've beaten him)

Karpov clearly belongs to another chess era, from before computer science arrived on the scene. – Felix Izeta

With his time finished 10 years ago, the former hero of all Soviet working people, from the mines of Astana to the wineries of Cisinau, from the beaches of Yurmala to the mountains of Bishkek, still soldiers on. He tries to keep a straight face, he pretends to be busy, he plays teenage girls in exhibition matches. Just a dead man walking. – Alex Yermolinsky (on Karpov)

At first I found some of his moves not altogether understandable, and only after careful analysis did I discover their hidden strength. – Ljubomir Ljubojevic (on Karpov)

When observing Karpov's play or playing against him, one cannot help thinking that all his pieces are linked by invisible threads. This net moves forward unhurriedly, gradually covering the enemy squares, but, amazingly, not relinquishing its own. – Alexander Roshal

Many of Karpov's intentions become understandable to his opponents only when salvation is no longer possible. – Mikhail Tal

Known as a negative player, Karpov sets up deep traps and creates moves that seem to allow his opponent possibilities - but that really don't. He takes no chances, and he gives his opponents nothing. He's a trench-warfare fighter who keeps the game moving just an inch at a time. – Bruce Pandolfini

Let us say that a game may be continued in two ways: one of them is a beautiful tactical blow that gives rise to variations that don't yield to precise calculations; the other is clear positional pressure that leads to an endgame with microscopic chances of victory. I would choose the latter without thinking twice. If the opponent offers keen play I don't object; but in such cases I get less satisfaction, even if I win, than from a game conducted according to all the rules of strategy with its ruthless logic. – Anatoly Karpov

Style? I have no style. – Anatoly Karpov

What if one took a minor Capablanca, grafted onto him a strong will to win, and added all the interim opening knowledge as elaborated by the Soviet school? Some would posit, an invincible chess machine. But no - one would have merely a studious Capablanca who tried harder. Of such stuff, heroes today cannot be made. – Anthony Saidy (on Karpov)

I think Umansky has all of a sudden revived or created a style that I have never seen before. He plays like Tal except that he plays in CC; he does very wild things. Maybe this is the wave of the future. – Hans Berliner

The Laurel & Laurel of chess organization. – John Henderson (on Raymond Keene and Eric Schiller)

I will say that Raymundo Keene of Braindead makes just about everybody's short list for the biggest all-time jerk in the chess world. – Mike Franett

Keene has often been shown by Edward Winter and others to be one of chessdom's worst offenders against historical accuracy. – Taylor Kingston

Have you really reached a point in your life when nothing is more important than making money, not caring how you make it or who you hurt in the process. – David Levy (to Raymond Keene)

So what happens Raymond? How can you ever look any of us in the eye? How can you possibly expect forgiveness from those ex-friends and partners who you have so neatly stabbed in the back? – David Levy

If you don't want to be stabbed in the back you should be aware of who is standing behind you. – Tony Miles (to David Levy on Ray Keene)

As for David Levy and his blinding epiphany, where on earth was Levy when Korchnoi showed that Keene had broken his contract when working as his second at the 1978 world championship match? Where was Levy when Edward Winter presented irrefutable evidence of Keene’s misconduct on a whole variety of issues? Where on earth was Levy when GM Tony Miles told the world that he and Keene had jointly conspired and did in fact defraud the British Chess Federation? Wasn’t it this charge that brought a swift resignation and graceless exit from the BCF by Keene? Where was Levy when Keene was caught red-handed plagiarizing copyrighted material from Inside Chess magazine for one of his potboilers? It seems that Levy has only recently seen the light. – Yasser Seirawan

I recall it being suggested to Ray some years ago that he had sold his soul to the devil. He actually quite liked that idea, and probably considers that the devil paid way over the going rate. – David Levy

When I was young I fell in love with chess not only for the rush that playing the game brought me, but also for the nostalgic, otherworldly feelings that the lives of the old masters conveyed. I still recall quivering in delight if an Alekhine anecdote was told. Steinitz fascinated me, and his miserable end left me feeling depressed. Lasker took on God-like proportions in my twelve-year-old mind, and other players like Marshall, Nimzovich, Bogoljubow and Reti also occupied my attention day after day after day. – Jeremy Silman

Chess history is what got me involved with the game, and chess history is what kept my interest bubbling during the last 23 years. – Jeremy Silman

I love to watch others play and make effort while I sit around and grow fat and lazy. – Jeremy Silman

Seirawan is a blithering idiot who isn't capable of intelligent analysis because he wears out his feeble mind trying to think of cute things to say, such as oops and whoops. – James Schroeder

Let the perfectionist play postal. – Yasser Seirawan

Those tactical choices were endlessly fascinating. I just thrilled to them. I had complete responsibility. If I lost, I lost; if I won, I won. I'm making executive decisions. And I'm receiving entree into the adult world, which is a very powerful allure for a kid. – Yasser Seirawan

Eventually, you'd win a game, which was like the crowning glory. That's just like, wow! That was a revelation: You can win at this game! – Yasser Seirawan (on his early tournament experiences as a child)

I'm a warrior at the board. The killer instinct, the competitive instinct, is as familiar as a good friend. – Yasser Seirawan

I decided that soccer, which was very demanding and would have meant no chess, could last four or five years at best, chess a lifetime. I chose chess. – Nikolay Minev

Plaskett’s playing style should generate invitations from all over the world, because when he is on, he can crush even the strongest grandmasters in great combinational style. – Carsten Hansen

Oh, yes, I am sure it is a fine novel, but I can't stand to read about chessplayers as maladjusted eccentrics. As in Stefan Zweig's book and in Nabokov's too. Horrible. – Jonathan Speelman (on Nabokov's novel, The Defense)

Jaan Ehlvest, is very experienced, but by modern standards belongs to the generation of chess dinosaurs. Having said that, I have just realized that he is only one year older than myself! – Garry Kasparov

In the hands of this young man lies the future of chess. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Kasparov in the late Seventies)

My chess philosophy has largely been developed under the influence of Ex-World Champion Mikhail Moiseevich Botvinnik. I am sure that the five years I spent at Botvinnik's school (1973-1978) played a decisive role in my formation as a chess player and determined the path of my subsequent improvement. – Garry Kasparov

It was the beauty and brilliance of tactical blows that captivated me in early childhood. – Garry Kasparov

I am fond of solving chess problems and, particularly, chess studies. Chess problems are full of paradoxes and original ideas. – Garry Kasparov

There are some studies which I like to play through again and again. – Garry Kasparov

Chess for me is art. – Garry Kasparov

I try to play, always, beautiful games…always I wanted to create masterpieces. – Garry Kasparov

I want to win, I want to beat everyone, but I want to do it in style! – Garry Kasparov

The point about concentration is that it is the only way to find something new and unusual at the chessboard; the only way to create surprise with fresh ideas. – Garry Kasparov

I think it is very important for somebody to develop chess and not just try little moves here and there. – Garry Kasparov

Kasparov always seems to find some sparks to create a fire on the board. – Lubomir Kavalek

My play is based on the most general laws of chess and the particular features of the position. – Garry Kasparov

People fondly remember the days of Bobby Fischer and say he played to win everything. Karpov wants to win only as much as he needs to. I belong somewhere in the middle. Deep down I am a maximalist too, but I haven't got Fischer's decisiveness to the same degree. Of course I regret that, but it can't be helped. I have other qualities that maybe Fischer lacked. – Garry Kasparov

We are players of totally different chess tendencies. Karpov's purely competitive approach is based on a deep knowledge and understanding of his favorite set-ups, as well as on the maximal exploitation of the minimal resources in a position. I opposed this with a continual creative search, exploring the unlimited possibilities of chess. – Garry Kasparov

An aggressively inscrutable player, Kasparov strives to gain deep positional sacrifices: Even when he can't calculate the end result conclusively, he can make sophisticated generalizations. He does anything to get the initiative and to force the play. Inevitably, he emerges from a forest of complications - in which his intentions aren't all that clear - with the advantage. He's not as artful or as clear as Fischer, but his play coincides with the realities of the day, which are all about defense. Clarity of style no longer makes sense. Great players hide their intentions. – Bruce Pandolfini

Typical Kasparov. Instead of simplifying to stagnant equality, he seeks counter chances on the kingside. Forever confident. That's why he's the best in the world! – Yasser Seirawan (commenting on a Kasparov game)

We are adherents of the same, analytical, way, and we believe in the triumph of analytical penetration into the secrets of a position. – Garry Kasparov (on Mark Dvoretsky)

I feel like a champion who is building a bridge from the traditional times to this era. Chess will not disappear. It will become more popular. This is going to be my legacy. – Garry Kasparov

We like to think. – Gary Kasparov (on why he and Karpov get into time trouble so often)

When we got back to our "palace" I went through room after room for fifteen minutes, just screaming and yelling out of pure animal joy. Victory! I don't expect I shall ever experience such a whirlwind of feeling again. It is enough to have felt it just once in your life. People ask if it was like falling in love. I have to say it was even better than that; you've proved that you're the best in the world, you've finally achieved the target you set yourself many years before, you've overcome every obstacle on the way there, and you know that no one and nothing, no matter what happens in the rest of you life, can take this achievement away, that you have become a part of history. – Garry Kasparov (on winning the title in 1985)

If they had played 150 games at full strength, they would be in a lunatic asylum by now. – Boris Spassky (on the Kasparov-Karpov matches)

In case you missed it, the Grandmasters Association which Kok organized, was ruined when that selfish, rotten bastard, Garry Kasparov, who was a member of the Board of Directors, resigned in a huff because they would NOT follow his orders. – James Schroeder

My family is healthy; I have no tax problems; I wish it were true that I made millions from IBM and Alta Vista. My mother is my closest advisor and friend and she wishes it were true that I had mastered 15 languages. I will not dignify all of the exaggerations and fabrications about health, family and taxes with a detailed response, but when it comes to my children, I feel obligated to respond and set the record straight. – Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov, the man who throws rocks as if they are tennis balls, uproots heavy trees with bare hands and eats strong international masters for breakfast. – Hans Ree

I don’t think we should refer to Kasparov as a super-human! He is just a regular guy who is extremely strong in chess. – Ruslan Ponomariov

Sometimes Kasparov does things that no other chessplayer is able to do, things that are so stunning that colleagues and spectators ask themselves in astounded admiration how for heaven's sake it is possible that a human being can invent them. – Hans Ree

His candid remarks remind us of our commonality, that even the arguably best player in history makes errors, is distracted by emotions, and seems at times to be peering into the void. – Shelby Lyman (on Kasparov)

Taking into consideration Kasparov’s character, not any one would welcome the idea of working with him. – Sergey Dolmatov

When the truth is inconvenient for him, he has been known to resort to "fables" and to become angry when they are revealed for what they are. – Lubomir Kavalek (on Kasparov)

When Garry Kasparov wrestles with his conscience, he always wins. It's what he's best at. – Dominic Lawson

Kasparov is a man that cannot do business with human beings. – Nigel Short

He is not an easy person. – Susan Polgar (on Kasparov)

There is Kasparov when he is playing chess and Kasparov when he is not. If you're careful to keep the two separate, then everything falls into place. – Vladimir Kramnik

I singled out for me a group of chess players from whom I wanted to borrow the best qualities: the psychological stability from Karpov, the meticulous positional technique from Petrosian, the logic from Botvinnik, the intuition from Alekhine, the ability of taking a risk from Tal. – Garry Kasparov

Alexander Alekhine is the first luminary among the others who are still having the greatest influence on me. I like his universality, his approach to the game, his chess ideas. I am sure that the future belongs to "Alekhine" chess. – Garry Kasparov

It is still possible to be creative in chess, but only within the existing framework. Perhaps I should write ‘but only on top of the existing framework’, since creative thought nearly always builds on what has gone before. This thought is hardly original - Bernard of Chartres once wrote, ‘We are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size’. Isaac Newton said something similar some five hundred years later. It might not be entirely fair to describe Kasparov as a ‘dwarf’, but Steinitz, Lasker and Alekhine are amongst the giants upon whose shoulders he stands. – Jonathan Levitt

Modern chess is far too pragmatic. In the 70s and 80s beautiful moves and ideas were rated very highly. There was a specific atmosphere that encouraged a really creative chess player in his search. It is very characteristic that Korchnoi was the last to leave the tournament stage in Wijk aan Zee. Victor Lvovich fought to the bitter end. And now creativity gives way to other aspects, we are witnessing a crisis of analytical principles. That is where my superiority over the others is really obvious. – Garry Kasparov

Look at Garry Kasparov. After he loses, invariably he wins the next game. He just kills the next guy. That's something that we have to learn to be able to do. – Maurice Ashley

If there is one single facet of chess in which Garry has well and truly dominated his opposition it is in the opening phase of the game. The breadth of his opening preparation is as vast as it is deep, ensnaring practically every chess grandmaster he has ever faced. I've witnessed some of the world's very best grandmasters shaking their heads, staring at a lost position shortly after breaking beyond the opening stages. – Yasser Seirawan

Fischer was the first real professional player to emerge on the chess stage, and as far as this is concerned, I hope to be considered his follower. – Garry Kasparov

When I compare my own career with that of Fischer, I have to admit that I enjoyed a certain advantage over him. He had no one besides himself to draw him up to the heights he reached, whereas I have been privileged in having a high-class player like Karpov, who forced me to exert myself and advance ever higher. – Garry Kasparov

The problem when you win too much, is it spoils you. You think you don't have to do much. – Garry Kasparov

Every victory imposes certain additional obligations on the world champion, so one must always fight. And even if I am not in my best form, I nevertheless think I must play for the victory. I believe it is not only important for the sake of backing up my reputation, but for chess in general. If the world champion gives up struggle, it is bound to adversely affect the whole game. – Garry Kasparov

As World Champion, I have the responsibility for developing chess as one of the most popular human activities and as an important educational tool. – Garry Kasparov

I think the man who can take the crown from Kasparov has yet to be born. – Viktor Korchnoi

Don’t get me wrong here - Kasparov is a great player, fantastic player. But most of the players tend to be afraid of him when they shouldn’t. I can see it in their eyes when they come to the board to play him. They just want to make some moves and stop the clock. I tell you, this isn’t the way to play against Garry! He can literally sense the fear. He “feels” it and this gives him additional powers at the board. – Vladimir Kramnik

The majority of Kasparov's adversaries are simply afraid of him and it influences the course of purely chess struggle. Probably, this factor gives additional strength to Kasparov and tends to reduce his opponents' capacity. Kramnik was not afraid of him absolutely, and clearly is not afraid of him now. Quite possible that it is a very important factor for Kasparov. If I may compare it with the other match against Deep Blue that was lost by Kasparov, I believe about the same thing happened. – Vladimir Tukmakov

To some extent I am happy because somebody else has to assume the responsibility of organizing the world championship. – Garry Kasparov

Even if one has not yet remembered the name Kramnik, the name Kasparov definitely rings a bell. – Garry Kasparov

There are two Dokhoians. Dokhoian on his own and Dokhoian within Kasparov's or his mother's field of tension. When he is on his own Dokhoian does not mind a chat, but he isn't often on his own. He spends most of the day in Kasparov's company. Analyzing together or talking together about what they have analyzed. When you meet Dokhoian together with Kasparov, he has a commendable knack of knowing his place. Unsmiling and serious, he looks ahead of himself in silence, absent-mindedly, as if he doesn't notice when people are talking next to him. Why put in a word if you risk it being the wrong one? What is to be done and what is to be discussed is determined by Kasparov. When they go to a restaurant together, Kasparov decides what Dokhoian will have. – Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

Considering the youth of many of today's chess fans it might be better to reminisce about how terrifying Kasparov was in the 80s, but no time for ancient history today. Nobody gets a name like "Beast" after they're 35. – Mig Greengard

He has been known by many names: the Prince of Darkness, the Boss, the Great One, Gazza, the Beast, and the Dark One. I think he enjoys all of this very much. – Kelly Atkins

I feel that my relationship with Kasparov now is much the same as it had been before the match - good. As for his reaction, well it can’t be nice to lose your title after so long, but he was very generous. It was a very gentlemanly behavior on his part. He congratulated me on my victory and admitted that I should have won. He accepted me as the new world champion. No one can have any complaints about what must have been a sad moment for him. He accepted his defeat with good grace. – Vladimir Kramnik

I am still the best player in the world. – Garry Kasparov (spoken a few weeks after his defeat by Kramnik)

I was disappointed that he couldn't find a single good word to say about my role in his life. – Garry Kasparov (on Kramnik)

As expected, we played the Berlin Defense. It was successfully employed (four times!) by Kramnik during the World Championship match in London. To find a way to win here is a question of principle now. – Garry Kasparov (on facing Kramnik and the Berlin Defense at Corus)

This tale about him being “my teacher” was simply a journalist’s story - Botvinnik himself mainly did all of our training. Garry would simply give what precious time he could to the school as he could. You could say he was my teacher as he was Shirov’s and Akopian’s. Where he did help me though was in his insisting that I should be included in the Russian squad for the Manila Olympiad in 1992. He put his neck on the line here in this respect. He basically saw the raw talent that I had and helped to nurture it along. He really didn’t need to do this. It must have been obvious at the time to him that he saw me as being a “threat” to his crown. But in all fairness to him, despite this potential threat in the future, this never stopped him from giving help. – Vladimir Kramnik

My chess epoch is the time of great changes when computers entered into the chess world. And I belong to this time. It is only natural that I am the champion of these days. Once I wrote a small essay about the characters of 13 world champions. It’s really surprising how much the champions corresponded to the epoch they lived in. Take Lasker, for example. He said that there was no absolute truth in chess, that chess had a lot to do with psychology, and these were the times of Albert Einstein. So all the champions met the spirit of their time. Thus I am in my own place. – Garry Kasparov

Short plays with a refreshing directness which often astounds many of the top Russians who are schooled in the kind of patient positional chess in which a weak pawn is viewed as a life-threatening disease. – Nigel Davies

I hate Chukky; he never thinks in complex positions and thinks a lot for obvious moves. – Nigel Short (on Ivanchuk)

What's the good of setting goals when their achievement is never in one's own hands? – Vasily Ivanchuk

The very thought of being inferior to Ponomariov in any game horrifies me. – Vasily Ivanchuk

I don't consider myself to be a person with bad nerves. There are some people who are much worse in this respect, like Chukky, for instance. – Nigel Short (about Ivanchuk)

He laughs to himself and in his mood of bliss he is gently rocking the upper part of his body up and down. At times he opens his eyes wide with surprise, extremely satisfied with the silent conversation he is having with himself. – Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam (on Ivanchuk)

One day he plays like an 1800 player, next day he plays like Ivanchuk. – Garry Kasparov (on Ivanchuk)

Regardless of my play in India, I think my positive example of a champion who is not afraid of losing his possible privileges and who prefers to settle all the differences exclusively at the chessboard - this example must ennoble the world of chess. If someone has managed to beat you in fair competition, it is necessary to have the guts to recognize your opponent’s strength and to be the first to congratulate him without putting your fiasco down to his negative traits, without saying something like “I have been the last “romantic champion”, and now you have a “pragmatic champion”. You shouldn’t sink into it! – Alexander Khalifman

The main thing is that I have come through all of it. I have realized that roses are rather thorny. I have come through the hell of exaggerated attention to my persona – to every step, word and deed of mine. That takes the cake, really. Frankly speaking, I am tired of continuous talks before every tournament to the effect that “Khalifman should play this way and should not play that way.” And nowadays there are a lot of ambitious chess players of rather high class who go out of their way to obtain these roses without knowing about the thorns. Maybe they guess there are some thorns, but nevertheless, to feel the thorns is quite a different pair of shoes! – Alexander Khalifman

In many ways, the Indian genius is a mutant chess player: incredibly strong, modest and down to earth, honest, calm; nothing like the megalomaniac who holds the number one spot at the moment. – Jeremy Silman (on Anand)

Anand has long had the reputation for being the world's nicest grandmaster. He is clearly not a child of change who never grew up, as Kasparov is. – Sam Sloan

Alekhine was the rock-thrower, Capablanca the man who made it all seem easy. But the difference between Kasparov and Anand, which can be stated in the same terms, is more pronounced. – Hans Ree

Still, it is difficult to say what is more admirable, the ease with which Anand is winning his games, or the almost supernatural effort that Kasparov puts into them. – Jan Timman

Vishy and Judit are proof that one doesn't have to be a world-class ass to be a world-class chess player. – Kelly Atkins

I was perfectly happy to play in India. I could handle the pressure; if you don’t think about it all the time, after a while you stop feeling it. – Viswanathan Anand

Anand is perhaps the most normal of the chess elite. But he doesn’t have enough ambition to be the World Champion. His ability to overcome defeat is not like Kasparov's. – Viktor Korchnoi

Don’t get me wrong, winning a tournament like Wijk aan Zee would be a great achievement, but to win the world championship is something special. – Viswanathan Anand

I am the world champion. I do not need to discuss anything with anybody. – Viswanathan Anand (on the debate over who is world champion)

You may have the bishop pair but I have the ultimate advantage; I am the better player! – Michael Adams

Even God cannot beat Shirov in this variation. – Suat Atalik (on why van Wely finally stopped trying to play the Perenyi variation against Shirov)

Shirov is a knight of combinations and attacks in the Tal style. No wonder he titled his book of best games 'Fire On Board. – Leonid Shamkovich

Talent? What is talent? It is 99 percent labor and one percent natural. – Gata Kamsky

He can win the crown, but only if he works on chess as hard as Kasparov. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Vladimir Akopian)

So many moves, so little time! – Vladimir Kramnik

It’s not about the money; it’s about the title. – Vladimir Kramnik

There are moments in life when money is not the first priority. – Vladimir Kramnik

Every world champion is a reflection of his times. He is the stock market generation - all bottom line, no ideology. – Garry Kasparov (on Kramnik)

The time of pragmatical market has come. What is your company worth? How much do your stocks cost? And now to chess world came champion who symbolizes this cynical and pragmatical approach. Many don’t like the style of Kramnik’s games, which give no pleasure to people. – Garry Kasparov

Cheap attacks, but still I would like to have at least a few names of those, who confessed to Garry Kimovich that they don’t enjoy Kramnik’s games. I personally do, as well as Kasparov himself did just few months ago. – Boris Gelfand

I’m quite calm inside during the game for most of the time - not 100%, but generally very calm. I don’t like to show my emotions at the board, not because they might give something away to an opponent, but because that’s my style: I like to keep it to myself. – Vladimir Kramnik

You must have good health, a strong nervous system, and you must hate losing a game. Only then you may have a chance to become World Champion. – Vladimir Kramnik

I am much too competitive a player, and I don’t want my style to mislead anyone. I play positional chess, but I always play for a win. – Vladimir Kramnik

Modern chess players are normally quite universal and they can change their style from time to time. That's what I'm doing quite often. So, I can play in many different styles actually. OK, at the moment, I try to play solid positional chess, but maybe in two years it will be different. – Vladimir Kramnik

Because of his similar style, but much greater will to win, I always think of Karpov as an atomic Petrosian, and Kramnik, due to his greater tactical ability, as a nuclear Karpov. – Richard Rose

Kramnik is no show-off, but all the same he doesn’t like being overlooked. This Kramnik is a tough guy. Not someone you’d kick around. I think sometimes he’s about the only player who has no psychological problems when he’s up against Kasparov. When Kramnik is in form, he’s certain there’s no one who can beat him. – Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam

With all respect, there are some positions in which Kasparov has some problems. I know them. – Vladimir Kramnik

As Champion, I now do have more possibilities to influence the development of international Chess. I want to contribute my share to achieve the reunification of the Chess World. – Vladimir Kramnik

I go to bed at 4 a. m. Almost all chessplayers do. – Vladimir Kramnik

Winning! Winning more than losing. I would say so, but I also like to play. I'm not sure I would, if I would lose more than I win, but I would continue. – Vladimir Kramnik (on what he enjoyed most about chess)

For someone who views life itself as a game, then chess too is only a game. That's not my point of view. – Vladimir Kramnik

Megalomania is fatal for Piket. – Garry Kasparov

I'm not a weak player. – Peter Svidler

But it is my belief that luck is something you have to work for and that you also have to deserve. If you don’t work at the board, if you resign when you have a bad position, nothing will ever happen. – Peter Svidler

When I was about ten I realized that our upbringing was a little different from other kids but as far as my sisters and myself were concerned it was perfectly normal for us. – Judit Polgar

When I sat across the board from Judit and I had this waft of perfume I said, “Wow, this is really, really nice." – Yasser Seirawan

I must admit that I was smitten not only by her overwhelming talent, but also by the girl's unbelievable charm. How is such a kind and sweet girl ever able to compete? – Evgeny Bebchuk (on Judit Polgar)

With that much talent, there isn't nearly as much need for the usual competitive ferocity. – André Lilienthal (on Judit Polgar)

You have to concentrate on yourself, to look at your own interests. You need fighting spirit. My parents, sisters and trainers helped, but I have fighting spirit. – Judit Polgar

Her attacks are the ultimate in terms of viciousness. Surviving her attack is almost impossible. Her aggressive style is so intimidating that the most important thing is to remain calm. The worst part is that she exploits every tiny mistake you make. – Gabriel Schwartzman (on Judit Polgar)

I will always want to do something in chess or around chess even when I'm not going to compete anymore, like giving lectures. – Judit Polgar

I have some interest in computers. If I weren't a chess professional I'd probably become a programmer. – Judit Polgar

Limits are in your head. I can't think of a world championship yet, but reaching the top ten is a very realistic goal. I deserve more in the game. It should be within my power to reach 2700 - but sometimes I just go crazy and lose rating points! – Judit Polgar

When playing chess I have always strived to ignore external factors such as family and friends, so I have learnt to manage by myself. But it is nevertheless a good feeling to have my husband by my side. – Judit Polgar

If there is a nice option, I sacrifice even if it's risky because I like the beauty of the game. But I do try to win too. – Judit Polgar

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

Unpredictable and spontaneous Judith, who is always dangerous for her opponents and sometimes for herself. – Garry Kasparov

Peter possesses very profound theoretical knowledge. Leko is really good at calculating lines; and though his calculations are short they are extremely accurate. As far as I know, he keeps in touch with Fischer. Leko is excessively careful in his game. He is always striving for safety. – Garry Kasparov

In the recent past, I was good friends with Bobby during his time in Budapest. For me this was a fantastic experience, but I prefer to keep my memories to myself. Please ask Bobby if he has anything to say about me or about the issue itself. By the way, what kind of friendship would this be if I start to tell things behind his back that were not meant to be made public. – Peter Leko

Some of my colleagues would not dream of doing it, but I enjoy getting into direct contact with chess enthusiasts. Besides, I believe that in this way I am paying my respects to the chess community. People come to see us play. One has to be grateful for that and to give something back, even in difficult situations. – Peter Leko

A good word for Leko. He shouldn’t be too disappointed: so far he is following in Kramnik’s footsteps. One more loss in a qualification match and he will be ripe to play for the World Championship. – Garry Kasparov (on Peter Leko being eliminated from the FIDE championship tournament)

He’s an optimist, he is a joyful person. Leko doesn’t have this chess paranoia, this gloomy view. – Garry Kasparov

Morozevich is very uneven; his games are very shaky and nervous. – Garry Kasparov

The tournaments I win. – Alexander Morozevich (on being asked which tournaments he enjoyed the most)

Welcome to "Weirdsville” - Population: one, Alexander “Weird Al” Morozevich! – John Henderson

People who say you can't sell tickets to chess events have never seen this guy play. I never know what the hell is going on in his games, but it's always a show. – Mig Greengard (on Morozevich)

Grischuk’s qualifying for the semifinals can be called a surprise, but the fact is that he is very young and energetic! Sure, he cannot be considered one of the four strongest chess players in the FIDE World Championship from the point of view of objectivity, but there is nothing sensational about his success. – Vladimir Kramnik

The young star of Russian and world chess is already shining quite brightly and high. Grischuk, with determination, has paved his way into the strongest round robin events with the help of his invaluable natural gift; i.e., steady nerves. We have already watched quite a few talented stars burn down at the top of chess Olympus and swiftly fade! Alexander’s star will not go down. His natural youthful ardor and self-confidence are much too strong. – Sergei Shipov

Sometimes my own composure drives me mad. – Alexander Grischuk

I am of even higher opinion of Ponomariov now than two years ago. At that time one could have said that he was a child prodigy, taking into consideration all circumstances. Now he is clearly a very strong chess player who has his own original approach that testifies an enormous inherent ability. He does not have his own coach as yet; nevertheless he develops very fast. He has a huge inherent chess talent and character. – Vladimir Tukmakov

I just play chess and don’t care about the politics around the game. – Ruslan Ponomariov

Ponomariov turned out to be the most uncomfortable opponent for me. He was some sort of a dark horse; a mysterious imp darted out from a snuffbox. – Vasily Ivanchuk

He won't have it all his own way in the future. I'll soon grow up. – Ruslan Ponomariov (on Kasparov after their first game)

He is strong, motivated, well-prepared, and as tenacious as a pit-bull selling insurance. – Mig Greengard (on Ponomariov)

You know how people are always saying they need to have some sort of rock for their lives? For me chess is that rock. – Irina Krush

A curvaceous grandmaster who may be the chess world's answer to Anna Kournikova. – Lev Grossman (on Kosteniuk)

Chess is a contest between creative minds representative of their period. – Emanuel Lasker

It is often neglected, but seems obvious to me, that the merits of a past player can be assessed only in relation to his context. – Richard Forster

All these "friendly matches" between the champions of different epochs are senseless. Alekhine knew less about chess than any of today’s masters. He was a genius, but he lived in a different time and he didn’t possess the information. It is most probable that he wouldn’t be able to play well in any of today’s tournaments. But it’s not to say that he wouldn’t be able to accustom himself to the present day situation, if his genius absorbed all the information available today. But then it wouldn’t be Alekhine any longer! Surely one can compare the chess talent itself, but this comparison is quite arbitrary, you know. – Garry Kasparov

To comfort myself and all other fans of the past masters, I should state that in my opinion questions like "How would Lasker do if he lived today?" do not make much sense anyway. Every person is a product of his times and an Emanuel Lasker today would probably not even have started playing chess. He might have invented Windows 98 instead (remember all these anecdotes about Lasker's attempts at farming and their inevitable failure?). An extraordinary player is one who is far ahead of his contemporaries, not somebody winning in an intergalactic, time-spanning fantasy tournament. – Richard Forster

Those who don't play chess may tend to think of it as a tedious game best suited to idle eccentrics and the elderly - people with vast patience and plenty of time to waste. This is only partly true, for chess also requires uncommon energy and childlike mental vivacity. If players are sometimes portrayed as old men with furrowed brows, that is merely a symbolic depiction of an activity that consumes days, years, and even lifetimes in a single, unquenchable flame. Players relish the paradoxical compensation: time is forever frozen in a loop of the eternal present, while life away from the board comes to seem unbearably fast-paced. They therefore constantly seek to rediscover that state of grace, that nebulous yet limpid condition of dominion that comes from concentrating the mind on the game. Boredom? The chess player doesn't know the meaning of the word. – Paolo Maurensig

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