Richard Bach Quotes

Capture of the adverse King is the ultimate but not the first object of the game

It is impossible to win gracefully at chess.

Because of the level of my chess game, I was able - even against a weak opponent, such as my younger brothers or the dog - to get myself checkmated in under three minutes. I challenge any computer to do it faster.

Chess, like other arts, must be practiced to be appreciated.

Chess is not a game, but a disease.

A grandmaster needs to retain thousands of games in his head, for games are to him what the words of their mother tongue are to ordinary people, or notes or scores to musicians.

My very first book was a games collection of Anatoly Karpov. On the whole I was attracted by positonal play with some tactics, and already then I was aiming for universality.

That's what Chess is all about. One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one

Look at Garry Kasparov. After he loses, invariably he wins the next game. He just kills the next guy. That's something that we have to learn to be able to do

A woman can beat any man; it's difficult to imagine another kind of sport where a woman can beat a man. That's why I like chess.

All that matters on the chessboard is good moves.

Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game.

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

Okay, when you start to fight for equality, like Anand did in 1995, you could end up losing game 10, like he did, without putting up any kind of fight.

Most beginners who have learned the point system will only consider a sacrifice if it leads directly to checkmate or if the material can be won back by force. A Grandmaster, though, will frequently sacrifice for less tangible compensation, such as a lead in development or a superior pawn structure.

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

Modern Chess is too much concerned with things like Pawn structure. Forget it, Checkmate ends the game

Tactics involve calculations that can tax the human brain, but when you boil them down, they are actually the simplest part of chess and are almost trivial compared to strategy.

A single inattention may lose a chess game, whereas a single successful approach to a problem, among many which have been relegated to the wastebasket, will make a mathematician's reputation.

Furman astounded me with his chess depth, a depth which he revealed easily and naturally, as if all he were doing was establishing well-known truths.

The best indicator of a Chess Player's form is his ability to sense the Climax of the game.

He can be regarded as the great master of simplification. The art of resolving the tension at the critical moment and in the most effacious way so as to clarify the position as desired is Capablanca's own.

The days when it was possible to win a serious game only by merit of sporting character or depth of chess understanding have vanished forever. Chess knowledge has become dominant, bypassing all the other factors that contribute to success.

In chess there can never be a favorite move. I can probably pinpoint in a specific game, there might be a move that was like, "Oh, that was a good move." And maybe certain moves turned the whole game around, but there's not one special move that does that, unless it's checkmate because that's when the game is over.

To play chess on a truly high level requires a constant stream of exact, informed decisions, made in real time and under pressure from your opponent. What's more, it requires a synthesis of some very different virtues, all of which are necessary to good decisions: calculatioñ, creativity and a desire for results. If you ask a Grandmaster, an artist and a computer scientist what makes a good chess player, you'll get a glimpse of these different strengths in action.