Chess Knowledge Quotes

A lifetime in not enough to learn everything about chess.

My challenge when I came back was to face the young talent, dissect their games, and show them maybe that they needed to learn more about the game than just the money aspect.

I started by just sitting by the chessboard exploring things. I didn't even have books at first, and I just played by myself. I learnt a lot from that, and I feel that it is a big reason why I now have a good intuitive understanding of chess.

When I was about six, I saw my elder siblings play chess and pestered my mother into teaching me. Very soon, I was beating everyone at home, and they thought it would be good to join a club. So my sister would take me to the Tal chess club on Thursdays and weekends.

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.

Well, I think, in large part, when I first began playing chess at seven years old, I was quite bad at it. I lost a lot of games when I first started.

When I was preparing for one term's work in the Botvinnik school I had to spend a lot of time on king and pawn endings. So when I came to a tricky position in my own games I knew the winning method.

Everyone is using the same programs, everyone is looking at the same opening ideas. I wouldn't say everyone is necessarily the same in terms of talent or ability, but when you're able to prepare games that go so deep that you don't have to think, really, it balances out the field.

When you watch chess, you don't see the four hours that the player spends preparing for a match ahead of time.

Nowadays, a 13-year-old would probably know more than Bobby Fischer knew when he retired. They analyse all the moves and prepare themselves on their computers. But that doesn’t mean they are special.

I felt that chess... is a science in the form of a game... I consider myself a scientist. I wanted to be treated like a scientist.

There is technology where you can watch the match live online and also on TV. If people understood the game, I'm sure we would have a lot of chess fans by now.

It's easy to reach a certain level with chess, but it's very hard to reach the next level.

Bobby Fischer has an enormous knowledge of chess and his familiarity with the chess literature of the USSR is immense.

I think for me the main goal that I have, or at least what I really aspire to, is to raise the level of chess.

I grew up with a father who taught me chess at the age of 6 or 7. He'd always beat me. Of course. I was a kid of 6 or 7. After he won, he'd look at me and say, 'It's good to be king.' And then he'd say, 'But you know what's even better? To rule the world.'

The point system certainly governs a Grandmaster's decisions, but it can be outweighed in any given position by more important factors.