Favorite Chess Quotes

I'm still going with emo phillips:

"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."

 A little off topic, but I loved that movie:

'I am Indigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!' (from the movie:   'A Princess Bride')

Not a chess quote, but comming from a man who studied ... swordsmanship ... his whole life, to get revenge on the man who killed his father ...

He should have played chess and who knows, he could have been a GM :-)

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

                                    Wilhelm Steinitz 1896

Have  Great Day—Sali

http://www.chess.com/photos/view_album/SALICRUP/chess-pics

You know, once you have cornered me with your queen, I can deprive you from a woman's company forever.. 

''White's attack almost plays itself...weak players even beat grandmasters with it''.

Bobby Fischer on the sicilian dragon.

"I did F*ck all, and it proved to be enough!!"

Tony Miles on one of his games.

Alekhine:

When asked, "How is that you pick better moves than your opponents?", I responded: 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alekhine is dear to the chess world, mainly as an artist. Typical of him are deep plans, far-sighted calculation and inexhaustible imagination. However, his main strength, which developed from year to year, was his combinative vision: he saw combinations with great ease and accuracy. For this reason Alekhine's combinations possessed such staggering, crushing force... Yes, this truly was an amazing gift! - Mikhail Botvinnik

In contrast to Fischer with his propensity for clarity, and to Karpov who grew up on Capablanca's games, from my early years I was enormously influenced by Alekhine's play and won over by his unprecedented feat in the 1927 match. I admired the refinement of his ideas, and I tried as far as possible to imitate his furious attacking style, with its sudden and thunderous sacrifices. - Garry Kasparov

His fantastic combinative vision was based on a sound positional foundation, and was the fruit of strong, energetic strategy. Therefore Alekhine can safely be called the pioneer of the universal style of play, based on a close interweaving of stategic and tactical motifs. - Garry Kasparov

Petrosian:

Chess is a game by its form, an art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery in it. Chess can convey as much happiness as a good book or work of music can. However, it is necessary to learn to play well and only afterwards will one experience real delight. - Tigran Petrosian

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

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

In those years, it was easier to win the Soviet Championship than a game against "Iron Tigran". — Lev Polugaevsky

It is to Petrosian's advantage that his opponents never know when he is suddenly going to play like Mikhail Tal. - Boris Spassky

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

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

Careful study of Petrosian's games is required to form a clear impression of him. He was, so to speak, a very "secretive" player. We can call Petrosian the first defender with a capital D. He was the first person to demonstrate that it is possible to defend virtually every position. Petrosian contributed a defensive element to chess - an element that is being developed more and more today. He showed that chess contains an enormous number of resources, including defensive ones. - Vladimir Kramnik

Petrosian was a very intensive chess player who was hard to understand. I don't think he has been presented to the public in the correct way. He is one of the few chess players of whom I have failed to form a clear opinion after going through his games collection. There is something mysterious about Petrosian. He was a brilliant tactician and an excellent strategic player, although his positional understanding was not as good as Smyslov's. However, many people consider him to have been a master of positional play. He was definitely a player who could cope with every kind of situation, but I don't think that positional play was his cup of tea. Defence and a magnificent tactical vision were his strongest points - that's why he was so good at defence. Only a brilliant tactician can succeed in defence, and he had perfect sight of all the tactical opportunities and nuances for his opponent. I would even say that attack, rather than defence, is a positional skill. You can attack mostly on the basis of general ideas, whereas in defence you have to be specific. Calculations of lines and verification of specific positional features are more important for defence than for attack. - Vladimir Kramnik

If we look in chess history for a "double" of Petrosian, we arrive at Capablanca. Petrosian is not a tiger hat pounces on its prey, but rather a python, that smothers its victim, or a crocodile, waiting for hours for a convenient moment to land a decisive blow. Petrosian is an outstanding strategist. If he should begin to combine a little, he will be impossible to play against. - Max Euwe

Among all our grandmasters Petrosian possesses the most distinctive and original talent: he places his pieces so astutely, that all attacks on them prove very difficult. This is a subtle and rare style, to which it is hard to adapt. - Mikhail Botvinnik

Petrosian masterfully created positions that demanded of his opponents and ability to solve independent problems at the board. His opening preperation combined a knowledge of theory and a knowledge of human psychology. Players who cannot take a single step without Chess Informator were ironically called by him "children of Informator". - Vasily Smyslov

Petrosian, of course, was a phenomenonal chess talent; he played so deeply and interestingly, that he sometimes found ideas for his opponents that never even entered their heads. Petrosian had Capablanca's technique and Schlechter's sense of danger. - Mikhail Tal

A strong player knows all the rules and laws of the game. A telented player knows everything that a strong player knows, but he also sees exceptions to the rules. But major chess talents(we call them geniuses) gradulally transform these exceptions into new rules. And so on ad infinitum, since chess is inexhaustible. - Tigran Petrosian

Petrosian was able to make combinations no worse than Tal, but he restrained his talentand played purely positionally. - Anatoly Karpov

Mikhail Tal:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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)

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

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)

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)

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

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

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)

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)

Analyzing his chess games is tantamount to discussing what God looks like. - Vladimir Kramnik

"After 1.e4 White's game is in its last throes." - The Hungarian Master Gyula Breyer.

"Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever, when they are only wasting their time." - George Bernard Shaw

There's nothing funny about the cesspool of paranoid bigotry in which Fischer wallowed for so much of his sad life, but this quote is something special: "I'm very concerned because I think the Jews want to drive the elephants to extinction because the trunk of an elephant reminds them of an uncircumcised penis. I'm absolutely serious about that...." 

the most important move in chess, as in live, is the one you just made

unknown

in the time before Chess clocks: HT Buckle - The slowness of genius is hard to bear, but the slowness of mediocrity is intolerable. I always remember that when I wait 45 minutes for someone to make a forced move.

Curse you for taking my favorite quote! I'll repost it just because I want to!

"When I play as White, I win because I am White. When I play as Black, I win because I am Bogoljubov." the great and amazing Efim Bogoljubov.

Blackburne, after stealing an opponent's drink: He left it en prise, and I took it en passant.

when Tal died, there was an obituary, can't remember by whom, He's sitting at the right hand of God, playing chess, and winning.

would that be on the spanish train, playing for the souls of the dead ?

"What is important is to take chess, and what chess teaches you, everywhere for the rest of your life. The enjoyment, the concentration, the work ethic, the pride, the friendship - all are more important than rating points or the ability to find a mate in four. But for a few, chess is like a native language, as beautiful as any music, as any work of art. And maybe it will become as special to you as it was, and is, to me."

Garry Kasparov

" The Hardest Game to Win is a Won Game"

                                        E. Lasker

"Chess is life." - Bobby Fischer

"Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy." -Siegbert Tarrasch

All I want to do ever, is to play chess.-Bobby Fischer