Famous Chess Quotes To Improve In Chess
02/08/2023
One of the most efficient ways to improve our chess is to learn from the legends of the past and their chess wisdom.
So today we are going to learn from some of the famous chess quotes, and we are going to extract as much as we can from the wisdom of the chess legends.
Famous chess quotes
“Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.”
Rudolf Spielmann
Rudolf Spielman in this chess quote teaches us how we should play each phase in chess, the opening like a book with a great domain and wisdom in the opening we play, the middle game like a magician bringing out all our creativity to surprise our opponent and the endgame like a machine with great precision.
“Sometimes a Pawn is enough to change the whole game and those who ignore the importance of it, are liable to lose their Queen.”
Sandeep Sharma
This chess quote reflects the importance of pawns in chess, besides being a key piece in the final phase of the game and depending on how we use them our pieces can be more powerful or weaker.
“The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.”
Savielly Tartakover
Tartakover tells us about something very important in chess and in every competition, mistakes. We are human and mistakes are part of us, that's why we always have to be attentive to make as few mistakes as possible and see our opponent's mistakes.
If our opponent makes a mistake and we do not take advantage of it, in practice it will cease to be a mistake.
“To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess.”
In this chess quote the magician from Riga shows us the correct mentality to play especially with the white pieces, because when you want to win you propose and carry the rhythm of the game, but when we only settle for a draw we are only passively holding our opponent's attacks and most likely those attacks will end up turning into a defeat.
“Above all else, before playing in competitions a player must have regard to his health, for if he is suffering from ill-health he cannot hope for success.”
Mikhail Botvinnik
The great patriarch of chess tells us in this chess quote how important is our health and physical condition, especially when we go to competitions. That is why it is recommended to practice other sports besides chess, such as soccer, basketball, tennis or any other physical activity.
Being in good physical shape we will have our brain more oxygenated giving us more mental speed and much clearer ideas.
“When you see a good move, look for a better one.”
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker motivates us to go deeper in our analysis, to go further, even when we have found a good move there may be a better one.
“Of course, analysis can sometimes give more accurate results than intuition but usually it’s just a lot of work. I normally do what my intuition tells me to do. Most of the time spent thinking is just to double-check.”
Magnus in this chess quote teaches us to trust more in what our intuition tells us, especially if we already have experience playing chess.
Our intuition gives us a possible answer to a problem based on our past experiences, so it is important to always keep it in mind, although we must not blindly trust our intuition because sometimes it can fail us.
“Weak points or holes in the enemy position must be occupied by pieces, not pawns.”
Siegbert Tarrasch
Master Tarrasch teaches us how to make the most of one of the most important factors of strategy. If we manage to put a piece in a weak point of the opponent it means that we have achieved a great advantage.
“I go over many games collections and pick up something from the style of each player.”
Mikhail Tal
Master Mikhail Tal in this chess quote shows us how important it is to learn from the mistakes and strengths of others.
We do not have to shut ourselves off from learning from the mistakes we make ourselves, but also learn from what happens to others, if we manage to keep learning our improvement will be much faster.
“Self-confidence is very important. If you don’t think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucialmoments, out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. I have always believed in what I do on the chessboard, even when I had no objective reason to. It is better to overestimate your prospects than underestimate them.”
Magnus Carlsen
We always have to be confident in our skills. If we are training and we are striving to polish our skills, but we don't trust them, all the effort we put in is wasted by being impressed by the level of our opponent.
If we believe that a piece sacrifice is a good move, we have to do it, whether it is against an amateur or against the world champion himself.
“By strictly observing Botvinnik’s rule regarding the thorough analysis of one’s own games, with the years I have come to realize that this provides the foundation for the continues development of chess mastery.”
Kasparov together with master Botvinnik show us one of the most effective trainings to improve our chess.
They talk about the analysis of our own games to be able to detect which are the mistakes we usually make, which positions we usually play better, a complete scan of our game.
“Becoming successful at Chess allows you to discover your own personality. That’s what I want for the kids I teach.”
In chess our personality is reflected, if we are people who like more adrenaline and usually take more risky decisions our style of play is more tactical and aggressive, but if we are more controlled people and we take calculated decisions most likely our style in chess is much more strategic.
“Every chess master was once a beginner.”
Irving Chernev
All great chess players started as beginners and thanks to their hard training, effort and dedication they perfected their chess.
“Whenever Black succeeds in assuming the initiative and maintaining it to a successful conclusion, the sporting spirit of the chess lover feels gratified, because it shows that the resources of the game are far from being exhausted.”
Savielly Tartakower
In this chess quote, master tartakower shows us that even if Black starts with a small disadvantage because he starts second, there are always resources with which he can match or even beat the white pieces.
“In almost any position the boundless possibilities of chess enable a new or at least a little-studied continuation to befound.”
Another demonstration of the immense possibilities that chess can give us, where we can always find new ways and plans that can surprise even the most experienced opponents.
“The most important feature of the Chess position is the activity of the pieces. This is absolutely fundamental in all phases of the game: Opening, Middlegame and especially Endgame. The primary constraint on a piece’s activity is the Pawn structure.”
Michael Stean
In this chess quote Michael talks about two of the most important factors in chess, first he talks about the main pillar of chess which is the activity of our pieces, because it doesn't matter if we have three more pieces than our opponent, if those extra pieces we have are not doing anything.
Then he talks about the structure of pawns, which depending on how they are positioned on the board can be maximizing the activity of our pieces or hindering them.
know any other famous chess quote ?
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