Chess Player Quotes

The fact is he outplayed me. He just proved to be stronger.

Viswanathan Anand

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

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.

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

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

Chess never has been and never can be aught but a recreation. It should not be indulged in to the detriment of other and more serious avocations.

Learn from each one of your defeats; your losses must be as close to you as your victories.

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.

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

Tigran Petrosian

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

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

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

Siegbert Tarrasch

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

They have nothing on me, those guys. They can't even touch me. Some people rate them better than me. That really bugs me. They think that no Americans play chess. When I meet those Russian patzers I'll put them in their place.

North of the 49th parallel we value equality; south of it, they treasure freedom.

Michael Adams (chess player)

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