Quotes--a copy-and-paste job from a source I found

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gcohen
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Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:16 pm

Quotes--a copy-and-paste job from a source I found

Post by gcohen » Sat Aug 16, 2014 4:19 am

"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


"What distinguishes a Grandmaster from a master? Chess-lovers often ask questions like that. To many people it seems that Grandmasters simply calculate variations a little deeper. Or that they know their opening theory slightly better. But in fact the real difference is something else. You can pick out two essential qualities in which those with higher titles are superior to others: the ability to sense the critical moment in a game, and a finer understanding of various positional problems."
Yusupov


"Chess is mental torture."
Garry Kasparov


"The world championship is a disputed title. You've got a situation like boxing. Speaking as a member of the chess world, it's extremely undignified."
Yasser Seirawan


"Chess books should be used as we use glasses - to assist the sight; although some players make use of them as if they thought they conferred sight."
Jose Capablanca


"Chess problems demand from the composer the same virtues that characterize all
worthwhile art: originality, invention, conciseness, harmony, complexity, and splendid insincerity.'

Vladimir Nabokov, 'Poems and Problems', 1969



"If your opponent cannot do anything active, then don't rush the position; instead you should let him sit there, suffer, and beg you for a draw"
Jeremy Silman


"For me, chess is life and every game is like a new life. Every chess player gets to live many lives in one lifetime"
GM Eduard Gufeld


"When a chess player looks at the board, he does not see a static mosiac, a still life, but a magnetic field of forces charged with energy - as Faraday saw the stresses surrounding magnets and currents as curves in space; or as Van Gogh saw vortices in the skies of Provence."
Arthur Koestler


"Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing".
Robert Huebner



“Objectivity consists in understanding that the only one who
never makes a mistake is the one who never does anything.”
Vladimir Kramnik


"You have, let us say, a promising politician, a rising artist that you wish to destroy. Dagger or bomb are archaic, clumsy and unreliable - but teach him, inoculate him with chess."
H.G. Wells


"The passion for playing chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world. It slaps the theory of natural selection in the face. It is the most absorbing of pastimes, the least satisfying of desires...It annihilates a man."
H.G. Wells


"There is no easy way to develop tactical skill. I learned tactics from simple trial and error and continuous inspection of combination books like Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Sacs and Combinations. Blitz games can be a useful way to cram as much chessboard experience as possible into a short amount of time and a good way to become familiar with tactical patterns. Reviewing classic games with a chessboard is another good way to grasp essential tactical points. All players at GM level are extremely proficient tactically (some more than others) and can deduce basic combinations and tactics almost instantly."
GM Larry Christiansen in his book: Storming the Barricades, p. 27


Seirawan interview
Former US Champion Yasser Seirawan has given a very interesting interview which appears on IM Jeremy Silman's website. Below is a brief excerpt. The full interview can be found at http://www.jeremysilman.com/rave_month/ ... rview.html .

Capablanca said that one should study endgames first. Others insist that tactics are all that matters. Positional concepts for beginners are more or less ignored. And most seem to be addicted to memorizing opening moves. What do you think a beginning player should study? A class “C” (1400-1599)? An expert (2000-2199)?

Capablanca is right. Endings for everyone. Memorizing openings is a serious waste of time. Only with endgame knowledge can one have chess understanding. A good endgame player will recognize the long-term deficits and advantages of any opening variation. Why study the Zaitsev Spanish if a player plays the Exchange Spanish and beats you every time in an equal ending? The problem is that studying the endgame has been so dry and sterile that players would rather stop playing chess then study the ending. Teachers who can make endgame study sparkle and hold interest are rare and vital. I was quite fortunate in that my earliest chess teachers made me enjoy this facet of the game. Consider that my admired players include Kortchnoi, Timman and Minev, all great endgame specialists.



"If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he's worse off."
Nigel Short


"The books say that it is not so serious to lose time in a closed position; I am lucky, since these comments have not harmed me too much."
Bent Larsen


"I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position."
Marcel Duchamp


"As for me, I am unfortunate enough not to posses a happy temperament like Najdorf, who views every happening in a rosy light and avoids any possibility of self-criticism. I am one of those unlucky skeptics who never overlook the dark side of even the happiest experience."
Savielly Tartakower


"When I am down in material and do not have a plan, I simply develop in the hope of finding one later on."
Max Dlugy


"Chess is more than a game or a mental training. It is a distinct attainment. I have always regarded the playing of chess and the accomplishment of a good game as an art, and something to be admired no less than an artist’s canvas or the product of a sculptor’s chisel. Chess is a mental diversion rather than a game. It is both artistic and scientific."
Jose Capablanca


"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


"Analysis: Irrefutable proof that you could have won a game that you lost."
Eliot Hearst


"In chess it is more important to frustrate your opponent's strategy than to be obsessed with your own."
Larry Evans


"Greed is an integral quality of a strong player"
GM Sergey Shipov


"In the middlegame one should not hesitate to advance a central passed pawn."
David Bronstein


"A young player, specifically because he is so inexperienced, naturally fears an established master. Only the ambitious player becomes a solid master, and that by breaking that fear. How? By being prepared to play out every game. He must gamble on losing; there is no other way of winning. We all make mistakes. A determined player makes fewer, and those he does make are more often overlooked simply because of the pressure and tension he exerts on his rival!"
William Lombardy


"If you have seen one Alekhine game you've seen them all."
Bobby Fischer


"Chess is not a game, but a disease"
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman


"It may look as though two chess players are sitting at the board peacefully calculating possibilities, but in actuality they are seething with a kaleidoscope of emotions."
Swami Shankaranda


"A chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second when you believe you have an advantage, and the third... when you know you're going to lose!"
Tartakower


"Intuition in chess can be defined as the first move that comes to mind when you see a position.
Viswanathan Anand
Last edited by gcohen on Thu Aug 21, 2014 10:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

cmulligan
Posts: 181
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 10:10 pm
Location: South Carolina

Re: Quotes--a copy-and-paste job from a source I found

Post by cmulligan » Thu Aug 21, 2014 2:36 am

Awesome! Thanks for posting these. Very cool! :D

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