“Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.” – Robert Fischer
“In chess, we get a fighting game which is purely intellectual and excludes chance. Indeed, this is what draws some of us to chess!” – Richard Réti
“Chess is not a game for dictators for numerous reasons. One, it’s transparent. It’s all information hundred percent available.” – Garry Kasparov
“I used to attack because it was the only thing I knew. Now I attack because I know it works best.” – Garry Kasparov
“Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.” – Blaise Pascal
“Chess helps you to concentrate, improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules and take responsibility for your actions, how to problem-solve in an uncertain environment.” – Garry Kasparov
“All I want to do, ever, is play chess.” – Robert Fischer
“There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones, and mine.” – Mikhail Tal
“Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game.” – Wilhelm Steinitz
“On the chessboard lies and hypocrisy do not survive long. The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless fact, culminating in a checkmate, contradicts the hypocrite.” – Emanuel Lasker
“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
“Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” – Rudolph Spielmann
“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.” – Garry Kasparov
“When I am White, I win because I am White. When I am Black, I win because I am Bogoljubow.” – Efim Bogoljubow
“Once there is the slightest suggestion of combinational possibilities on the board, look for unusual moves. Apart from making your play creative and interesting, it will help you get better results.” – Alexander Kotov
“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
“The human element, the human flaw and the human nobility – those are the reasons that chess matches are won or lost.” – Viktor Korchnoi
“Chess is a game by its form, an art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery in it.” – Tigran Petrosian
“Pawns; they are the soul of chess: it is they alone that determine the attack and the defence, and the winning or losing of the game depends entirely on their good or bad arrangement.” – François-André Danican Philidor
“I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.” – Marcel Duchamp
“I am convinced, the way one plays chess always reflects the player’s personality. If something defines his character, then it will also define his way of playing.” – Vladimir Kramnik
“The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.” – Savielly Tartakower
“When you see a good move, look for a better one.” – Emanuel Lasker
“Unlike other games in which lucre is the end and aim, chess recommends itself to the wise by the fact that its mimic battles are fought for no prize but honor. It is eminently and emphatically the philosopher’s game.” – Paul Morphy
“In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else. For whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and opening must be studied in relation to the end game.” – José Raúl Capablanca
“Chess is the struggle against the error.” – Johannes Zukertort
“Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
“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
“The game of chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it… Life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with.” – Benjamin Franklin
“One of the principal requisites of good chess is the ability to treat both middle and end game equally well.” – Aron Nimzowitsch