Chess Players Quotes

We are like chess players who are trying to predict the opponent's future moves, but in this case, we are dealing with life itself. True masters do not play the game on a single chessboard, but on multiple chessboards at the same time. And what's the difference between grandmasters and masters? Surprises. The moves that cannot be predicted by the opponent. Life can play a simultaneous game with seven billion people at the same time and it can take each and every one of us by surprise. And we still believe we are capable of winning, because we can predict three of four moves ahead. We are insignificant. ~ Jaka Tomc

The first great chess players, including the world champion, got by perfectly well without constant coaches. ~ Anatoly Karpov

The chess player who develops the ability to play two dozen boards at a time will benefit from learning to compress his or her analysis into less time. ~ Marilyn Vos Savant

Except for a handful, chess players don't have such illusions. The game has a severe analytic quality that makes self-deception difficult. Unlike the undiscovered poet who, despite the harsh criticism of his peers, lives on his fantasies for the day that he will be recognized as the next Dylan Thomas, even a young chess player can usually gauge his talent. When Josh was six, he played several games against a pudgy thirteen-year-old who was the top player on his high school team. He beat Josh every time, but a couple of the games were close, and afterwards the boy seemed gloomy about his performance. He explained that if he didn't make significant improvement during the next year, he would wind up as just another wood-pusher. Despite his celebrity in school, he seemed to know that he didn't have it. While ~ Fred Waitzkin

It is a well known fact that almost all the outstanding chess-players have been first-class analysts. ~ Mikhail Botvinnik

Nowadays the dynamic element is more important in chess - players more often sacrifice material to obtain dynamic compensation. ~ Boris Spassky

Capablanca was among the greatest of chess players, but not because of his endgame. His trick was to keep his openings simple, and then play with such brilliance in the middlegame that the game was decided - even though his ooponent didn't always know it - before they arrived at the ending. ~ Bobby Fischer

Chess players do not care about the pawns. They sacrifice the least powerful so they can hold on to their power.Your leaders play chess with your lives,but what the world does not yet know is that someone else whispers the moves as they play... ~ Catherine Linka

Ralph ... would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player. ~ William Golding

Geniuses of certain kinds - mathematicians, chess players, computer programmers - seem, if not mad, at least lacking in the social skills most easily identified with sanity. ~ James Gleick

A brilliant strategy is, certainly, a matter of intelligence, but intelligence without audaciousness is not enough. ~ Garry Kasparov

You can't overestimate the importance of psychology in chess, and as much as some players try to downplay it, I believe that winning requires a constant and strong psychology not just at the board but in every aspect of your life. ~ Garry Kasparov

Most chess players know, thanks to the study of master games, that two bishops are stronger than two knights or than bishop and knight, though very few know the reason for this advantage and how to turn it to account. ~ Richard Reti

Chess hasn't really influenced my literature. It's true, there's a character in Pigeon Post, an old chess player; but it's more of a wink, a self-portrait and not much more. ~ Dumitru Tepeneag

The captain was a good chess player, and the games were always interesting. Yossarian had stopped playing chess with him because the games were so interesting they were foolish. ~ Joseph Heller

Bobby Fischer's current state of mind is indeed a tragedy. One of the worlds greatest Chess players - the pride and sorrow of American Chess ~ Frank Brady

Like dogs who sniff each other when meeting, chess players have a ritual at first acquaintance: they sit down to play speed chess. ~ Anatoly Karpov

India and China are improving by leaps and bounds and it will be their chess players who will lead the revolution of the XXI century. ~ Judit Polgar

First-class players lose to second-class players because second-class players sometimes play a first-class game ~ Siegbert Tarrasch

Deep practice, however, doesn't obey the same math. Spending more time is effective - but only if you're still in the sweet spot at the edge of your capabilities, attentively building and honing circuits. What's more, there seems to be a universal limit for how much deep practice human beings can do in a day. Ericsson's research shows that most world-class experts - including pianists, chess players, novelists, and athletes - practice between three and five hours a day, no matter what skill they pursue. ~ Daniel Coyle

Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack. ~ Wilhelm Steinitz

Chess-players are so unsociable, they are no company for any but themselves. ~ Anne Bronte

Whoever sees no other aim in the game than that of giving checkmate to one's opponent will never become a good Chess player. ~ Max Euwe

Analysis is a glittering opportunity for training: it is just here that capacity for work, perseverence and stamina are cultivated, and these qualities are, in truth, as necessary to a chess player as a marathon runner. ~ Lev Polugaevsky

The highest Art of the Chess player lies in not allowing your Opponent to show you what he can do. ~ Garry Kasparov

Independence of thought is a most valuable quality in a chess-player, both at the board and when preparing for a game. ~ David Bronstein

All Chess players should have a hobby ~ Savielly Tartakower

Chess as a sport requires a lot of mental stamina, and this is what that makes it different from a physical sport. Chess players have a unique ability of taking in a lot of information and remembering relevant bits. So, memory and mental stamina are the key attributes. ~ Viswanathan Anand

Too many times, people don't try their best. They don't have the keen spirit; the winning spirit. And once you make it you've got to guard your reputation - every day go in like an unknown to prove yourself. That's why I don't clown around. I don't believe in wasting time. My goal is to win the World Chess Championship; to beat the Russians. I take this very seriously. ~ Bobby Fischer

In the City Market is the Meet Café. Followers of obsolete, unthinkable trades doodling in Etruscan, addicts of drugs not yet synthesized, pushers of souped-up harmine, junk reduced to pure habit offering precarious vegetable serenity, liquids to induce Latah, Tithonian longevity serums, black marketeers of World War III, excusers of telepathic sensitivity, osteopaths of the spirit, investigators of infractions denounced by bland paranoid chess players, servers of fragmentary warrants taken down in hebephrenic shorthand charging unspeakable mutilations of the spirit, bureaucrats of spectral departments, officials of unconstituted police states, a Lesbian dwarf who has perfected operation Bang-utot, the lung erection that strangles a sleeping enemy, sellers of orgone tanks and relaxing machines, brokers of exquisite dreams and memories tested on the sensitized cells of junk sickness and bartered for raw materials of the will, doctors skilled in the treatment of diseases dormant in the black dust of ruined cities, gathering virulence in the white blood of eyeless worms feeling slowly to the surface and the human host, maladies of the ocean floor and the stratosphere, maladies of the laboratory and atomic war... A place where the unknown past and the emergent future meet in a vibrating soundless hum... Larval entities waiting for a Live One... ~ William S. Burroughs

G. K. Chesterton says chess players go crazy, not poets. I think he is right. ~ Donald Miller

Captivated by its discipline, humanity forgets and goes on forgetting that it is the discipline of chess players, not of angels. ~ Jorge Luis Borges

Artists, athletes, chess-players and anyone who loves their job know the feeling of losing one's self in the current moment to full concentration. If we are more intentional in that experience, such as in meditation and prayer, we will notice that our presence becomes "denser and heavier", more grounded, and there is a sense of security and sufficiency that accompany it. Unfortunately, many people spend too much time either thinking about the past or worrying about the future at the expense of fully living and appreciating the current moment. ~ Roumen Bezergianov

Bobby Fischer was hugely important for the American chess community because it put chess on the map - he made it possible for other chess players to make a living. ~ Liz Garbus

Chess has given me a lot more than I could ask for. I have been able to feel special, travel the world and do what I truly enjoy. Moreover, chess players love being their own boss and hate having to wake up early! ~ Viswanathan Anand

The wisdom of the chess player is displayed more in winning over a capable opponent than a novice. The wisdom of the general is displayed more in defeating a superior army than in subduing an inferior one. Even more so, the wisdom of God is displayed when He brings good to us and glory to Himself out of confusion and calamity rather than out of pleasant times. ~ Jerry Bridges

One interesting indication of Capablanca's greatness is that to non-chess players his name was better known than the names of all other chess masters together! This was due partly to his engaging personality and distinguished appearance: he was one of those exceptional people who at once stand out in a crowd. ~ Fred Reinfeld

In Washington Square, one could still feel the characters of Henry James and the presence of the author himself. Entering the perimeters of the white arch, one was greeted by the sounds of bongos and acoustic guitars, protest singers, political arguments, activists leafleting, older chess players challenged by the young. This open atmosphere was something I had not experienced, simple freedom that did not seem to be oppressive to anyone. ~ Patti Smith Just Kids

It's easy for me to get along with chess players. Even though we are all very different, we have chess in common. ~ Magnus Carlsen

When top-level chess players look at a board, they see words, not letters. Instead of seeing twenty-five pieces, they may see just five or six groups of pieces. That's why it's easy for them to remember where all the pieces are. ~ Geoff Colvin

Computers have proved to be formidable chess players. In fact, they've beaten our top human chess champions. ~ Neil DeGrasse Tyson

It's the fault of the chess players themselves. I don't know what they used to be, but now they're not the most gentlemanly group. When it was a game played by the aristocrats it had more like you know dignity to it. When they used to have the clubs, like no women were allowed and everybody went in dressed in a suit, a tie, like gentlemen, you know. Now, kids come running in their sneakers. Even in the best chess club-and they got women in there. It's a social place and people are making noise, it's a madhouse. ~ Bobby Fischer

Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece. ~ Ralph Charell

The broader the chess player you are, the easier it is to be competitive, and the same seems to be true of mathematics - if you can find links between different branches of mathematics, it can help you resolve problems. In both mathematics and chess, you study existing theory and use that to go forward. ~ Viswanathan Anand

I am the best player in the world and I am here to prove it ~ Bobby Fischer

As a chess player one has to be able to control one's feelings, one has to be as cold as a machine. ~ Levon Aronian

Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination. ~ G.K. Chesterton

Far more people make a living as professional chess players today than ever before. Thanks partly to the availability of computer programs and online matches, there has been a mini-boom in chess interest among young people in many countries. ~ Kenneth Rogoff

For us chess players the language of artist is something natural. ~ Vladimir Kramnik

Women, by their nature, are not exceptional chess players: they are not great fighters. ~ Garry Kasparov

It is a delight to watch a young and gifted chess player. To him have come no sinister experiences; to him continual carping care is foreign. Therefore he loves the attack and the bold sacrifice; for theirin lies the shortest way to his ultimate objective. ~ Richard Reti

Once the cards are dealt we turn them up in turn, and make two piles each, one red, one black; the winner has the biggest pile of red ones. So once the cards are dealt the game is determined, and from any position in it you can derive all others back to the deal and forward to win or draw ... in relation to the solar system ... , the laws are like the rules of an infantile card game ... But in relation to what happens on and inside a planet the laws are, rather, like the rules of chess; the play is seldom determined, though nobody breaks the rules. ~ G. E. M. Anscombe

Chess truly uncovers whether or not someone has imagination and takes initiative. ~ Christian Morgenstern

I have always been confident in my skills and once the game got going I knew I was probably the best player on the floor most of the time whether it was junior high, high school or college. I knew I had control of the game. ~ Larry Bird

The challenge coaches face is replacing players they were counting on to be major pieces of a puzzle. In a lot of cases, there is just no way to make the necessary adjustments. ~ Ron Jaworski

I like to say that Bobby Fischer was the greatest player ever. But what made Fischer a genius was his ability to blend an American freshness and pragmatism with Russian ideas about strategy ~ Bruce Pandolfini

I'm not into those kind of rivalries. I remember standing out in front of Stratford, minding my own business. Carload of about eighty kids would pull up: 'STRATFORD SUCKS!' Am I supposed to run after these guys? I'd just stand there, you know. They'd back up. 'STRATFORD SUCKS! ... STRATFORD SUCKS!' I'd say, 'I know. I go there. You're wasting gas, man. ~ Bill Hicks

The positive psychology field has taught us about the benefits of optimism and happiness. One study correlated the life spans of Major League Baseball players with their smiles. In 2010, researchers Ernest Abel and Michael Kruger analyzed 230 baseball cards from 1952, a time when cards featured athletes looking straight at the camera. The results will make you want to smile.
* Players not smiling had an average life span of 72.9 years.
* Players partially smiling had an average life span of 75.0 years.
* Players with a full smile had an average life span of 79.9 years. ~ Jim Afremow

Taste is changing, style is changing, and players' abilities are changing. ~ Neville Marriner

Once you start altering your body's blueprint, things start falling apart. Some players take steroids, and two years later, after they've broken records, suddenly they have back problems, shoulder problems, arm problems. They're out of the game for good. ~ Charlie Sheen

I think about the great players with whom I have shared a pitch: Eric Cantona, Zinedine Zidane, Pirlo, Xavi, Cristiano Ronaldo - and the greatest of them all is Messi. ~ Paul Scholes

Such a positive move by Uruguay - bringing 2 players off and putting 2 players on. ~ John Helm

When I think of a lot of the players I admire, they could always play their parts without hiding behind distortion and sustain. Put the time in. Hear your mistakes. Yeah, it sucks, it's humbling, it makes you want to throw the guitar out the window. But if you work on your mistakes, they'll eventually go away, and you'll become a strong player. ~ John Petrucci

The best players in the world are playing to make history. There are only four tournaments you can win to make history, and TPC (The Players Championship) is not one of them. And neither are those world events. And you're not going to make history winning some kind of FedEx Cup. ~ Paul Azinger

If one of my players ever wants to hit me, he better do it really hard because otherwise, I'll find a rock, a stick, or a piece of wood - and believe me, it's gonna be a brawl. ~ Pat Burns

Most politicians keep close tabs on what's happening back home and work assiduously to keep lines of communications open with the political players in their states or districts. ~ Joshua Micah Marshall

Actors are players and if they're hot, or onto something, you let them go, or you and the actor can both get on to something. I always run out with lines as I think of them. ~ William Monahan

A lot of the people that I photograph are master musicians themselves, whether they're singers or great jazz players and it's kind of fun to figure out who they came up with and who they emulated or who they idolized actually. ~ Carol Friedman

Players have responsibilities, because, whether they like it or not, they are public figures. They have to be aware that the people who come to the ground spend fortunes in relation to what they earn. ~ Gerard Houllier

This decision will only strengthen the bond between women players and one of the world's great sporting events [on equal prize money at Wimbledon ~ Maria Sharapova

For me, chess is at the same time a game, a sport, a science and an art. And perhaps even more than that,. There is someting hard to explain to those who do not know the game well. One must first learn to play it correctly in order to savor its richness. ~ Bent Larsen

The chair legs behind me scrape against the floor, and Douchecanoe shrinks in his seat as over six hundred pounds of angry hockey players stare down at him. Fitzy is particularly menacing with his two full-sleeve tattoos and the cut over his eyebrow that he got during our last game. ~ Elle Kennedy

Baseball isn't just a game. It's life being played out on a field - a field of dreams - on diamonds of green, where players pursuing their dreams try to be the best they can be on the grandest stage of all - where men become boys and boys become men, all speaking one universal language without uttering a single word. ~ Tom Tatum

The whole object of the players' association is to try and make sure that any individual is able to capitalise on his ability, particularly in football, which is a very short career. ~ Gordon Taylor

The best chess masters of every epoch have been closely linked with the values of the society in which they lived and worked. All the changes of a cultural, political, and psychological background are reflected in the style and ideas of their play. ~ Garry Kasparov

It's all right buying all these good players but they've got to gel, and that takes time. ~ Eric Bristow

You want a fact???
...
I'm bad at math but good at chess, I beat the best guy on chess... so you make your own conclusions! ~ Deyth Banger

In short: developers do not give players enough credit. And maybe even players don't give players enough credit. ~ Ragnar Tornquist

I went through all the musicians in my life who I admire as bright, intelligent, virtuosic players. ~ David Bowie

Chance sometimes opens the door, but luck belongs to the good players. ~ Bernard Baruch

I don't think there has been enough communication between the players and the tournaments. In one sense it's just as much the players' fault. Players talk between each other and in the locker room about things that can be improved and then when the time comes to talk and really do something about it they stop. ~ Novak Djokovic

I never give up on my players, and I'll never give up on people. ~ Art Modell

Never in the history of chess have so many moves been repeated so often so quickly by so many people who didn't really understand them. ~ Michael Stean

No game designer ever went wrong by overestimating the narcissism of their players, ~ Will Wright

What she revealed was not sexy lingerie, but a supportive piece of athletic equipment. After the consolation match that preceded the championship game, both Brazilian and Norwegian players removed their jerseys and exchanged them on the floor of the Rose Bowl. Chastain had previously removed her jersey after regulation to air it out. While training in Florida, the players frequently doffed their shirts after practice in the smothering heat, and they sometimes gave interviews in their sports bras, which were items of utility, not titillation. Chastain 'has brought instant attention to a piece of clothing that is humble and practical, not a traditional bra of shine and lace and cleavage, but a sturdy compression garment,' wrote Ann Gerhart of the Washington Post. 'The sports bra is the cloth symbol of Title IX's success. ~ Jere Longman

One thing I learned, with permission of the school committee of Indianapolis, was that when a tyrant or a government gets in trouble it wonders what to do. Declare war! Then nothing else matters. It's like chess; when in doubt, castle. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Offense at Indiana is not equal opportunity. Those players who shoot best are going to shoot most. It is important that every player know his offensive limitations. It is also important that a player know who the best shooter is on the team. When a passer has the option of passing to two players, I expect him to get the ball to the best shooter. I continually stop practice and ask players who the best shooter is and I expect them to know. It is important that you get the ball to your best shooter. ~ Bobby Knight

In chess, without the king, the other pieces would all be "dead", so their existance is supported by the king, but they need to serve the king with their capacity for action in order to have a good game. ~ Roumen Bezergianov

Every profession has changed. Journalism has changed. Medicine has changed. Technology has changed and it evolves. The same is true of football. Free agency has now allowed teams to be a dynasty as they have been before. It is not a great thing for the fans, but it is a good thing for the players. ~ Marv Levy

When you play with good players, they will always create chances for the forwards to score. ~ Jermain Defoe

We are trying to educate players to use their spare time to train for a life after football, which comes to everybody. You can lead a lot of horses to water, but you can't make them all drink. ~ Gordon Taylor

The isolated Pawn casts gloom over the entire chessboard ~ Aron Nimzowitsch

It is one of my pet hates when I see players who have agents who do everything for them. They don't know how to set up their own bank accounts, they don't know what they are spending their money on and they can't make their own decisions. ~ Gary Neville

There's a lot of chatter in basketball and, rightfully, you want players to be talking to each other ... But sometimes in practice, it gets too verbose ... so I tried to take things out of the ordinary and make them special so they'd understand the difference. ~ Phil Jackson

I want to be one of the best players in the game. ~ Kevin Durant