Alexander Alekhine Quotes

Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.

I believe that true beauty of chess is more than enough to satisfy all possible demands.

Oh! this opponent, this collaborator against your will, whose notion of beauty always differs from yours and whose means are often too limited for active assistance to your intentions!

Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.

During a Chess competition a Chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk

The retreat of a minor piece to the back rank, where it cuts the lines of communication between the rooks, is permissable only in exceptional cases.

Young players expose themselves to grave risks when they blindly imitate the innovations of masters without themselves first checking all the details and consequences of these innovations.

Capablanca was snatched too early from the chess world. With his death we have lost a great chess genius, the like of whom we will never see again.

Combination is a soul of chess.

Chess is not only knowledge and logic.

I consider chess an art, and accept all those responsibilities which art places upon its devotees.

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

I did not believe I was superior to him. Perhaps the chief reason for his defeat was the overestimation of his own powers arising out of his overwhelming victory in New York, 1927, and his underestimation of mine.

For my victory over Capablanca I am indebted primarily to my superiority in the field of psychology. Capablanca played, relying almost exclusively on his rich intuitive talent. But for the chess struggle nowadays one needs a subtle knowledge of human nature, an understanding of the opponent's psychology.

Chess is a matter of vanity.

I think that for the highest achievements nowadays ... need to have the stable as a rock scientific base. And also need to own modesty.

You can become a big master in chess only if you see your mistakes and short-comings. Exactly the same as in life itself.

Never before and never since have I seen - and I cannot even imagine, such an amazing rapidity of chess thinking that Capablanca possessed in 1913-14. In blitz games he gave all the St. Petersburg players odds of five minutes to one - and he won.

Play on both sides of the board is my favourite strategy.

For success I consider three factors are necessary: firstly, an awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses; secondly, an accurate understanding of my opponent's strengths and weaknesses; thirdly, a higher aim than momentary satisfaction. I see this aim as being scientific and artistic achievements, which place the game of chess on a par with other arts.