Chess Player Quotes

Garry Kasparov

Bobby Fischer

Alexander Alekhine

José Raúl Capablanca

Anatoly Karpov

Viswanathan Anand

Magnus Carlsen

I see myself more as an ambassador of the game. And I hope to bring chess to a higher level in the United States. Making bigger tournaments, more interesting events. Making it a respectable profession for young people to be able to pursue in the future.

I get more upset at losing at other things than chess. I always get upset when I lose at Monopoly.

I have a weakness for any piece in excess of my opponent's numbers - from pawn to queen.

Tigran Petrosian

The preparation for active rook play entails what is called the opening of lines, which largely depends on pawn play, especially on the proper use of levers.

You have to accustom yourself to practical study at home, you have to devote time to studies, to the history of chess, the development of chess, of chess culture.

Mikhail Botvinnik

We should praise, rather, the courage of the player who, relying only on his intuition, plunges into a brilliant combination of which the issue does not appear to him too clear.

Eugene Znosko-Borovsky

Chess is a great game. No matter how good one is, there is always somebody better. No matter how bad one is, there is always somebody worse.

Israel Albert Horowitz

It is a delight to watch a young and gifted chess player. To him have come no sinister experiences; to him continual carping care is foreign. Therefore he loves the attack and the bold sacrifice; for theirin lies the shortest way to his ultimate objective.

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

William Hartston

While some are as loathe to trade a Bishop for a Knight as a Cadillac for a Chevrolet, others are prepared to do so without hesitation.

Larry Evans (chess grandmaster)

Your practical results will improve when you play what you know, like and have confidence in.

My first teachers were street players, guys who would hustle you, get in your head, break you down mentally before they did it over the board.

Joshua Waitzkin

All lines of play which lead to the imprisonment of the bishop are on principle to be condemned.

Siegbert Tarrasch

They could start by removing some personnel: the head-butting, move-retracting, tournament-rigging, Zurab Azmaiparashvili for instance. He is a disgrace to the organisation. But never let it be said that he is a dunderhead.
He is warned by FIDE

My first goal is to create an attractive, interactive website that forms a community of chess lovers. I want to keep it light and keep people coming back ⎯ heavy on photos, humor, and simple chess tactics and strategies. I want to promote our top players to increase their visibility and their chances to make a living at chess.

Jennifer Shahade

Whenever we see an unprotected piece we must keep our eyes peeled because this is one of the most important ingredients of a combination.

I do not know to whom the aphorism 'There are no sound studies, only ones that haven't been busted yet' belongs, but it has measure of truth in it.

Objectivity and presence of mind are essential in such positions where sacrificial temptations are not always resistable.

Leonid Shamkovich

The cherished dream of every chessplayer is to play a match with the World Champion. But here is the paradox: the closer you come to the realization of this goal, the less you think about it.

Thanks to the Polgars the adjective 'men's' before events and the 'affirmative action' women's titles such as Woman Grandmaster have become anachronisms.

My relations with Korchnoi depend on whether he has slept well. If he had bad dreams, he speaks a lot of rubbish.

If once a man delays castling and his king remains in the center, files will open up against him, bishops sweep the board, rooks will dominate the seventh rank, and pawns turn into queens.

In order to improve your game you must study the endgame before anything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middlegame and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.

José Raúl Capablanca

The Pawn moves only one square at a time, and that straight forward, except in the act of capturing, when it takes one step diagonally to the right or left file on to the square occupied by the man taken, and continues on that file until it captures another man.

Howard Staunton

Chess reflects the real world in miniature. Endeavor, struggle, success, and defeat - they are part of each game ever played.

Bruce Pandolfini