Chess Quotes

“Chess is the struggle against the error.” – Johannes Zukertort

“Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev

“Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” – Ralph Charell

“Chess makes men wiser and clear-sighted.” – Vladimir Putin

“Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.” – Albert Einstein

“Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind .” – Bobby Fischer

“Chess is the struggle against the error.” – Johannes Zukertort

“Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.” – Blaise Pascal

“Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev

“Even the laziest King flees wildly in the face of a double check!” – Aaron Nimzowitsch

“We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a Chess player’s nature.” – Rudolf Spielman

“Nothing excites jaded Grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty.” -Dominic Lawson

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

“Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack” – Wilhelm Steinitz

 “Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always, a player faces a series of difficult consequences whichever move he makes.” – David Shenk

“When you see a good move, look for a better one.” – Emanuel Lasker

“Half the variations which are calculated in a tournament game turn out to be completely superfluous. Unfortunately, no one knows in advance which half.” – Jan Timman

“Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.” – Mikhail Chigorin

“Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” – Savielly Tartakower

 “In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” – Charles Buxton

“You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.” – José Raúl Capablanca

 “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” – Bobby Fischer

“Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” – Rudolph Spielmann

“I used to attack because it was the only thing I knew. Now I attack because I know it works best.” – Garry Kasparov

 “It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.” – Savielly Tartakower

“One doesn’t have to play well, it’s enough to play better than your opponent.” – Siegbert Tarrasch

“Up to this point, White has been following well-known analysis. But now he makes a fatal error: he begins to use his own head.” – Siegbert Tarrasch

“Of chess, it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess.” – William Napier

“Chess is beautiful enough to waste your life for.” – Hans Ree

“A chess game in progress is… a cosmos unto itself, fully insulated from an infant’s cry, an erotic invitation, or war.” – David Shenk

“It will be cheering to know that many people are skillful chess players, though in many instances their brains, in a general way, compare unfavorably with the cognitive faculties of a rabbit.” – James Mortimer

“The pin is mightier than the sword.” – Fred Reinfeld

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

“Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.” – Robert Hübner

“One bad move nullifies forty good ones.” – Bernhard Horwitz

“If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he’s worse off.” – Nigel Short

“Your body has to be in top condition. Your chess deteriorates as your body does. You can’t separate body and mind. ” – Bobby Fisher

“A good player is always lucky.” – Jose Raul Capablanca.

“The hardest game to win is a won game” – Emanuel Lasker

“Chess is not for timid souls.”- Wilhelm Steinitz

“Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.” -Albert Einstein

“Chess is a curse upon a man.” – H. G. Wells

“Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game.”- Wilhelm Steinitz

“Chess is as much a mystery as women.” – Purdy

“He who fears an isolated Queen’s Pawn should give up Chess” -Siegbert Tarrasch

 “It doesn’t matter how strong a player you are, if you fail to register some development in the opening, then you are asking for trouble.”- John Emms

“When having an edge, [Anatoly] Karpov often marked time and still gained the advantage! I don’t know anyone else who could do that, it’s incredible.”- Vladimir Kramnik

“Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life.” -Edward Morgan Forster

“A king may be the most important piece on the chessboard; however, the queen is the most powerful.” -Karim R. Ellis

“To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess: it may be taken, but it forms the beginning of a game that is won.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“It is no easy matter to reply correctly to [Emanuel] Lasker’s bad moves.”- W.H.K. Pollock

“For in the idea of chess and the development of the chess mind we have a picture of the intellectual struggle of mankind.”- Richard Réti

“Chess, like love, is infectious at any age”. -Salo Flohr

“Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands!” -Renaud and Kahn.

“In Chess, just as in life, today’s bliss may be tomorrow’s poison.” -Assaic.

 “Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders”. -Savielly Tartakower.

“I started by just sitting by the chessboard exploring things. I didn’t even have books at first, and I just played by myself. I learnt a lot from that, and I feel that it is a big reason why I now have a good intuitive understanding of chess”. – Magnus Carlsen

 “I don’t know whether computers are improving the style of play, I know they are changing it. Chess has become a different game, one could say that computers have changed the world of chess. That is pretty clear.” – Vladimir Kramnik

” 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

“Help your pieces so they can help you.” – Paul Morphy

” The shortcoming of hanging pawns is that they present a convenient target for attack. As the exchange of men proceeds, their potential strength lessens and during the endgame they turn out, as a rule, to be weak.” – Boris Spassky

” Chess is a very logical game and it is the man who can reason most logically and profoundly in it that ought to win.” – Jose Raul Capablanca

“After a bad opening, there is hope for the middle game. After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame. But once you are in the endgame, the moment of truth has arrived.” – Edmar Mednis

“Chess is the art of analysis.” – Mikhail Botvinnik