Chess Quotes That Will Improve Your Play...And Maybe More!?

   Hello my dear reader, and welcome to my newest blog series on famous chess quotes! 

Here are the first 5 game changing quotes of this series and my comments on them as well.    Enjoy!

               

Said by the second world champion himself, this quote has more or less the same meaning as, "Sit on your hands". The definition being to prevent yourself from making quick or impulsive moves. But the meaning of the image above, would be that when you see a seemingly good or even great move, make sure that there isn't a move that could make your position even better, if not winning. 
       The following position and notes are taken from The Chess Bible by Vishnu Warrier.

"In this position, Nxg5 is an obvious and good move, winning the bishop and retaining an extra piece. However, 17. Nf6+! is far stronger and leads to mate the following move."          

             So as you can see, don't be happy with good, be happy with the best.

Coming from none less than the fourteenth world champion himself, this saying earns itself a place in this blog for being one of the few quotes that link chess and the outside world together to make a saying that can be easily understood, unlike some other sayings that only chess players would understand.

Many a time in my games of chess have I found myself submerged in thought, attempting to navigate the complications that my opponent has thrown upon me, calculating this move and that until I eventually found a move that seemed best and played it. Only to be dumbfounded by my opponents next move that I completely did not see! 

This can feel extremely disappointing and scary and requires great mental fortitude to not feel like you automatically have a worse position, especially in the opening when you trust on your opening prep to guide you through the first 10-15 moves. So to wrap this saying up, make sure to see the entire chess board, and learn your openings!

Possibly the most popular chess saying of all time, (And, the first chess saying I ever heard!)  Something that could be taken away from this saying is that if you don't see anything that can immediately make your position winning (A tactic), look into making small, improving moves that will make your position better until your opponent makes a mistake and then, and only then will a tactic will be available.

Yet another saying by our favorite Savielly Tartakower, this saying implies that blunders have always been in the position, not made by the moves we make, and that it is our job not to play them. Unfortunately the best moves in the position tend to be the ones that WE have to find and play. They are definitely not as easy to find/play as the oh so dreaded blunder.

And just like that this blog concludes! I hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it and that you have a wonderful, blessed, and productive day!

     Thanks for reading and see you in my next blog!-Alexander