Chess Quotes

Be very wary of "going for the win" as Black. Your chances of doing so are best if you adopt a measured approach and at least equalize first

Graham Burgess

“Combinations have always been the most intriguing aspect of Chess.
The masters look for them, the public applauds them, the critics
praise them. It is because combinations are possible that Chess
is more than a lifeless mathematical exercise. They are the
poetry of the game; they are to Chess what melody is to
music. They represent the triumph of mind over matter”
(Reuben Fine)

Here are some that I like more...

Efim Bogoljubov
“When I am White, I win because I am White. When I am Black, I win because I am Bogoljubov”.

Frank Marshall
“The hardest thing in chess is to win a won game”.

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

Mikhail Tal
“They compare me to Lasker, which is an exaggerated honour. He made mistakes in every game and I only in every second one”!

“They can only take them one at a time”! (Referring to his sacrifices).

One that has influenced me the most

“Oh, what a difficult job it was. To drag the hippopotamus out of the marsh”.

Unfortunately I haven’t got the time to write down the story about this Tal’s quote. If someone can post this, it would be very interesting. It is quite educational of how we can deal with chess dead ends and feel relaxed.🙂 Robbie if you are seeing this, try to find the story.🙂

And now something dedicated to all RHP members. (Tal again).

“I drink, I smoke, I gamble, I chase girls – but postal chess is one vice I don't have”.😛

from Wikipedia:

Journalist: - "It might be inconvenient to interrupt our profound discussion and change the subject slightly, but I would like to know whether extraneous, abstract thoughts ever enter your head while playing a game?"

Tal: - "Yes. For example, I will never forget my game with GM Vasiukov on a USSR Championship. We reached a very complicated position where I was intending to sacrifice a knight. The sacrifice was not obvious; there was a large number of possible variations; but when I began to study hard and work through them, I found to my horror that nothing would come of it. Ideas piled up one after another. I would transport a subtle reply by my opponent, which worked in one case, to another situation where it would naturally prove to be quite useless. As a result my head became filled with a completely chaotic pile of all sorts of moves, and the infamous "tree of variations", from which the chess trainers recommend that you cut off the small branches, in this case spread with unbelievable rapidity.

And then suddenly, for some reason, I remembered the classic couplet by Korney Ivanovic Chukovsky: "Oh, what a difficult job it was. To drag out of the marsh the hippopotamus".

I do not know from what associations the hippopotamus got into the chess board, but although the spectators were convinced that I was continuing to study the position, I, despite my humanitarian education, was trying at this time to work out: just how WOULD you drag a hippopotamus out of the marsh ? I remember how jacks figured in my thoughts, as well as levers, helicopters, and even a rope ladder.

After a lengthy consideration I admitted defeat as an engineer, and thought spitefully to myself: "Well, just let it drown!" And suddenly the hippopotamus disappeared. Went right off the chessboard just as he had come on ... of his own accord! And straightaway the position did not appear to be so complicated. Now I somehow realized that it was not possible to calculate all the variations, and that the knight sacrifice was, by its very nature, purely intuitive. And since it promised an interesting game, I could not refrain from making it."
Journalist: - "And the following day, it was with pleasure that I read in the paper how Mikhail Tal, after carefully thinking over the position for 40 minutes, made an accurately-calculated piece sacrifice".

Yes that's it. I love this story. Thank you very much.
Cheers.🙂

Originally posted by Ulysses72
Here are some that I like more...

Efim Bogoljubov
“When I am White, I win because I am White. When I am Black, I win because I am Bogoljubov”.

I've posted this before, but that won't stop me from doing it again - Roy Brown, who played for Hackney Chess Club many years ago, used to say:

"When I am White I win because I am White. When I am Black I win because I am Brown".

And here is that very game:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1139685

The knight sac is 19. Nxg7.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
And here is that very game:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1139685

The knight sac is 19. Nxg7.

[pgn]
[Event "Kiev URS ch"]
[Site "4"]
[Date "1964.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Mikhail Tal"]
[Black "Evgeni Vasiukov"]
[ECO "B17"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "115"]

1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3. ...[text shortened]... Rd8+ Ke7 54.Rd3 Be2 55.Bd8+
Ke8 56.Rd2 Re3 57.Bg5 Bd3 58.f5 1-0
[/pgn]

Games like this one, Fat Lady, they make me sure that chess is too advanced concept of art to enjoy it just for a lifetime😵

Originally posted by Fat Lady
I've posted this before, but that won't stop me from doing it again - Roy Brown, who played for Hackney Chess Club many years ago, used to say:

"When I am White I win because I am White. When I am Black I win because I am Brown".

oh em gee....


When I am white, I win because I'm white. When I am black I win because I am White.

Guess what my surname is.

This sounds so cute; I think I'll have to get it put on a t-shirt.