Quotes About Chess

When asked if he was better than Morphy, Steinitz, and Capablanca, Fischer responded, Well, I don't like to put things like that in print, it sounds so egotistical. But to answer your question, Yes."- Ginzburg interview, Harper's Magazine 1962

I'll play a lot, stake matches. Not like the Russians. They win the championship and then hide for three years." — Bobby Fischer, in 1971. Fischer, of course, did not keep his word and hid for 20 years instead of three.

Your body has to be in top condition. Your chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate body from mind.

I don't believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.

I wanted to become world champion, and in this respect school couldn't give me anything… It is better to be one of the strongest chess players in the world, than to be one of many thousands with a diploma.

It's just a matter of throwing in a few sacrifices, then checkmate!

I consider myself to be a genius who happens to play chess.

I give 98 percent of my mental energy to chess. Others give only 2 percent.

Draws make for dull chess, wins make for fighting chess.

I want to live the rest of my house in a house built exactly like a rook.

Bobby Fischer has an enormous knowledge of chess and his familiarity with the chess literature of the USSR is immense.

The place of chess in the society is closely related to the attitude of young people towards our game.

I study the chessboard and concede defeat. You can gain yourself in five moves says the Colonel. Worth fighting to the end. In five moves your opponent can err. No war is won or lost until the final battle is over.

I organize a chess festival in Hungary. I support chess in schools, and I have my own chess foundation. And I started writing books.

Once he had selected the path he was going down he really had to stick with it in a 16 game match. He had to try and hit in the one direction but unfortunately for him - though fortunately for me! - he hit in the wrong direction.

I started playing chess when I was five years old. I learned the moves from my mother, then worked with my father - and later trainers. My style became very technical. I sacrificed a lot of things. I was always hunting for the king, for the mate. I'd forget about my other pieces.

I was highly attracted to chess for forty or forty-five years; then, little by little, my enthusiasm lessened.

Crime is interesting. It's huge and fascinating, and it's what my business, TV and film, is largely based on. But the realities are tragic, and in crime drama you rarely see the pain of bereavement or any consequences. It's reduced to a chess game.

It's less about the physical training, in the end, than it is about the mental preparation: boxing is a chess game. You have to be skilled enough and have trained hard enough to know how many different ways you can counterattack in any situation, at any moment.

It's important, according to me, to train in small doses so as to not lose the joy of playing chess. I personally think too many coaching and training classes may take away a child's interest in the game itself. The essential thing to do is practise often and, in case of a doubt, to consult a trainer.

In chess, knowledge is a very transient thing. It changes so fast that even a single mouse-slip sometimes changes the evaluation.

You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it's really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas.

playing chess against oneself is thus as paradoxical as jumping over one's own shadow.

Conocía desde luego, por propia experiencia, el misterioso poder de atracción del «juego de reyes», de ese juego entre los juegos, el único entre los ideados por el hombre que escapa soberanamente a cualquier tiranía del azar, y otorga los laureles de la victoria exclusivamente al espíritu o, mejor aún, a una forma muy característica de agudeza mental.