A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused.- Rudolf SpielmannIn one game it is too difficult to play both for win and draw simultaneously.- Mihail Tal, 1969If the FIDe elections were not decided by the votes of the delegates but by the world’s chess society as a whole, there would not even be a competition.- Anatoly Karpov, NIC 2010Chess politic is not my dream, but I will be happy when we start to change things and organize a better chess life in the world.- Anatoly Karpov, 2010We will note the openings used by the participants of a nine-round match. The age of openings is considerably higher than the age of both rivals. Some opening positions could be analyzed by Steinitz when he was preparing to his match with Zukertort.- Mikhail Tal , 1966 (Petrosian-Spassky match)Petrosian-Spassky? To think I could have watched an excellent football match instead!- Mikhail Tal, 1966After an upsetting defeat the best psychology for the next game is a placid draw- Dr. VidmarPetrosian would never have beaten me if he had played like that in 1963.- Mikhail Botvinnik, 196616. “By all means examine the games of the great chess players, but don’t swallow them whole. Their games are valuable not for their separate moves, but for their vision of chess, their way of thinking.- Anatoly KarpovWhen your house is on fire, you can’t be bothered with the neighbors. Or, as we say in chess, if your King is under attack, don’t worry about losing a pawn on the queenside.- Garry KasparovWe must finish once and for all with the neutrality of chess. We must condemn once and for all the formula “chess for the sake of chess”, like the formula “art for art’s sake”. We must organize shock brigades of chess-players, and begin immediate realization of a Five-Year Plan for chess.- Nikolai Vasilyevich KrylenkoNot this time, Mr. Carlsen! (after winning the World Blitz Championship 2016)- Sergey Karjakin, 2016Carlsen simply plays chess well. It seems to me that in such cases people are inclined to look for some supernatural explanation, although the simplest explanation is also the most appropriate: the guy simply plays chess well.- Alexander Grischuk, 2014I’ve got no regrets about the games themselves, as frankly I’ve never been narcissistic about my play.- Alexander Grischuk, 2014Chess should not become an obsession. Otherwise there’s a danger that you will slide off into a parallel world, that you lose your sense of reality, get lost in the infinite cosmos of the game. You become crazy.- Magnus Carlsen, 2010One of the most important things in chess is pattern recognition: the ability to recognise typical themes and images on the board, characteristics of a position and their consequences.- Magnus Carlsen, 2010I am a totally normal guy. My father is considerably more intelligent than I am.- Magnus Carlsen, 2010Carlsen will sooner or later become World Champion. I like him, he is a Monty Python fan, just like me.- Vishy Anand, 2008Fischer wanted to prove that all world championship games after his victory were prearranged. He did not convince me.- Vishy Anand, 2008Ten years ago I said that 2010 would be the end, chess would be exhausted. But it is not true, chess will not die so quickly.- Vishy Anand, 2008Preparation for a world championship was always an arms race, in previous times with books, then with seconds, today with computers.- Vishy Anand, 2008In the past twenty years Kramnik has played a few thousand games, and if you show me a position from one of them, in 90 percent of the time I will be able to tell you which game it is from.- Vishy Anand, 2008It’s always more difficult to hold the title than to get it.- Vladimir Akopian, 2012First of all, I am a mother, and only then a chessplayer- Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, 2009The competition in the men’s tournament has grown massively over the past 20 years. Chess is becoming more and more popular, and there are no weak teams in the tournament any longer.- Andrey FilatovA game of chess has three phases: the opening, where you hope you stand better; the middlegame, where you think you stand better; and the ending, where you know you stand to lose.- Savielly TartakowerChess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders.- Savielly TartakowerTactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do.- Savielly TartakowerThe winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.- Savielly TartakowerThe blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.- Savielly TartakowerIt’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men- Savielly TartakowerSport can make girls feel more stronger, more stable and you can fight in the future when you enter the society. It is a really good quality for a girl and I think sports are a good way to generate your personality which is really important.- Hou Yifan, 2016It is true, in chess so far that men and women cannot be on the same level from an economic situation, but there can always be a more reasonable way to combine the financial part and the players’ situation.- Hou Yifan, 2016The main thing is that you’ve got to keep on studying however old you are. You can’t just rely on your capital, so you have to try and keep up, and that is a difficult task.- Nigel Short, 2016I think that ACP is a small clique, which gives power to more cliques.- Nigel Short, 2016I don’t particularly like being searched electronically. It is inconceivable that such a thing would happen in any other sport. It is fundamentally anti-chess, and I think the people who are behind this decision need their heads looked at! They are sick! They are ruining the very beauty that is chess.- Nigel Short, 2016After losing a game I play the next one better. After losing the 2nd game I play like a lion. After 3 defeats in a row, anyone can beat me!- Eduard GufeldWhen I see the Berlin defence, I am almost happy that I am not longer a top player!- Nigel Short, 2016When I saw MVL’s position, it is like a football match where you’re 3:0 down, with two minutes to go and you’re down to 10 men!- Lev Aronian , 2016Chess is a scientific game and its literature ought to be placed on the basis of the strictest truthfulness, which is the foundation of all scientific research.- W. SteinitzHe has weaknesses, as everyone does, but far fewer than those around him.- Veselin Topalov, 2016There was a moment at the beginning when the machines were a positive, but lately we’ve being passing to the other extreme. Now it seems that a move isn’t good unless the machine says so.- Veselin Topalov, 2016I think the players in this world championship are in different leagues. Karjakin is excellent—Carlsen is special.- Garry Kasparov, 2016it would have been a debacle if Karjakin had become the 17th World Champion.- Garry Kasparov, 2016If the 12th game (from the match Carlsen-Karjakin)… were a restaurant dish, I would send it back to the chef.- Nigel Short 2016I will be World Champion, if not now I will be World Champion later, but of course better now!- Sergey Karjakin, 2016When I am White I win because I am White. When I am Black I win because I am Bogoljubov.- Efim BogoljubovMaybe I had something of Capablanca. Why should I prepare when I have ideas?- Svetozar Gligoric, 1989 NICNow, at 51, in my life I have reach the stage between the middlegame and the endgame. But I don’t have the feeling that I am in the endgame already.- Boris Spassky, 1988 NICI never make mistakes in chess, I only have hallucinations!- Vlastimil Hort, 1987Fischer was the first to send me a telegram when I was in Amsterdam after I had defected, saying ‘Congratulations on the correct move’.- Vikor Kortchnoi , 1986 NICMy chess method is without formulas, without orthodox thinking. I always explain that chess is an art and that there are no definite judgments.- Lev Polugaevsky, 1990 NICI think that the World Champion should try to defend the quality of play more than anyone else!- Boris SpasskyIf I’m thinking for more than 20 minutes about one move, it’s usually a waste. Sometimes you can come up with some amazing solution but most of the time you just end up looping: you consider a move, you reject it, then you’re desperate, you come back to the move, you don’t remember why you rejected it, you have to make a move so you make it – then your opponent replies and you remember why you rejected it. The longest wait I ever did between moves was one hour and five minutes – and the move was horrible.- Magnus Carlsen, 2016Good players actually use their long-term memory much more than inexperienced players, who use their short-term memory. Good players try to recall patterns.- Magnus Carlsen 2016, 2016You can’t look too annoyed or they’ll look for the mistake you’ve made. A lot of the time it’s about looking for these opportunities and if you give them a clue, the good players will find it.- Magnus Carlsen, 2016I was pushed out of USSR by the hands of Petrosian and Karpov. But now, after 10 years, Petrosian is not longer alive and Karpov is not longer World Champion, so it seems that everything is in place now.- Viktor Kortchnoi, 1986 NICKarpov, Kasparov, Korchnoi have absolutely destroyed chess by their immoral, unethical, prearranged games. These guys are really the lowest dogs around, and if people knew the truth about them, they would be held in more contempt than Ben Johnson, the runner, and they’re going to know the truth when I do this book!- Robert Fischer, September, 1 1992I am the best player in the world, and I am here to prove it.- Robert Fischer, 1971Botvinnik and Tal are among the best; I also like Spassky, but I think Petrosian is better than all of them. His weakness is too many draws, even against players he could beat easily. Maybe he lacks self-confidence.- Robert Fischer, 1960Who was the greatest chess player? If chess is an art, Alekhine. If chess is a science, Capablanca. If chess is a struggle, Lasker.- Saviely TartakowerParapsychology? That’s a bunch of bananas. Korchnoi believes in that. He is still playing his game with the ghost of Geza Maroczy.- Nathan Divinsky, 2004Kasparov’s book are the best, as far as high level analyses are concerned.- Jan Timman, 1991 NICMy style is based on giving energy and creating. Karpov’s style is something that is probably taking energy from his opponent. NIC 1989- Garry Kasparov, 1989 NICThe duty of a World Champion is not only to play games but also to explain to the public why he is winning- Garry Kasparov, NIC 1989I give 98 percent of my mental energy to Chess. Others give only 2 percent!- Robert FischerKarpov is the official World Champion, but I’m not sure what that really means.- Jan Timman, 1993For goodness’ sake, how could Kasparov, after all his matches against Karpov, support him in the FIDE President elections? What sort of unprincipled person do you have to be? I would never understand that.- Viktor Korchnoi, 2012Botvinnik, Korchnoi and Kasparov had to hate the opponent to play successfully. I belong to a different type of chess players. I’m like Keres, Spassky and Portisch. On the board we fight, but in life we ​​get along great.- Anatoly Karpov, 2015This one hour allows me to put the problem into the background and then, when I come back, I am much more rational and less emotional about the particular problem and I can think better about it.- G. Borg, 2016I still think people can learn at any age – I’m actually sure about that. It’s just that the ceiling is lower for how far you want to go.- Magnus Carlsen, 2016When you see a good move, look for a better one- Emanuel LaskerIt is not possible to become a great player without having learned how to analyse deeply and accurately.- Mark DvoretskyAs a rule, pawn endings have a forced character, and they can be worked out conclusively.- Mark DvoretskyChess…gives students an opportunity to think at a different level.- Dr. Chad Witherspoon, 2014Chess is respected in culture and education, but our organization is far behind. FIDE must lead, not drag chess down.- Garry Kasparov, 2014I am fighting for the future of chess, for the integrity of the game I love. Only when it’s clean it can grow.- Garry Kasparov, 2014I’ve been playing chess professionally for 35 years! It’s a long time, and when people can still say that they enjoy my chess, that’s great.- Nigel Short, 2016I think I like chess. That’s the main reason that I’m able to play at a reasonably high level – that I really love chess. Always have and always will (smiles). It’s the best game in the world!- Nigel Short, 2016I understood that through chess I could express myself and chess became my natural language.- Boris Spassky, 1995Kasparov is great as a chess player, but all his attempts to prove himself as an organizer – let’s say, is beyond the champion’s level.- Boris Gelfand , 2016Karpov Lost, Kasparov Lost, the Only One Who Remained Is Me.- Silvio Danailov, 2014Chess needs Kasparov, he’s very important for chess, he’s a very important figure who can open a lot of doors for chess. And for Kirsan, of course, it was a joke.- Silvio Danailov, 2013FIDE is now a political organization. And being a political organization, it, of course, means that people in FIDE have some other interests – that is, to sit in their positions for the next hundred years.- Silvio Danailov, 2016Despite the ugliness of his decline, Bobby Fischer deserves to be remembered for the great things he did for chess and for his immortal games.- Garry Kasparov , 2004School is a waste of time for me. I want to be world chess champion, and they can’t teach me anything there.- Robert Fischer, 1961Every chessmaster was once a beginner.- Irving ChernevOf chess it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess.- Irving ChernevThere is no room for gallantry in chess.- Irving ChernevI don’t believe that Garry likes making decisions by democratic procedures. When there is a decision that he doesn’t like, he just turns against this organization.- Georgios Makropoulos, 2013Garry has done a lot over the chess board – unbelievable things. He is the greatest world champion in the chess history. The question is what he has done for the federations, what he has done for his own federation.- Georgios Makropoulos, 2013Danailov, in his campaign, used the motto – “I know.” One or two months later he said “I am learning.” Three years after, we know that he cannot learn. He gave so many promises, he has done absolutely nothing.- Georgios Makropoulos, 2013I personally believe that Karpov should have been more generous with Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Kirsan is the only president in the history of FIDE, and maybe in the history of all international federations, who has contributed dozens of million dollars for the sport he loves. By the way, some of these millions went directly to Anatoly’s pocket…- George Makropoulos, 2005My relation with Korchnoi depends on whether he has slept well. If he had bad dreams, he speaks a lot of rubbish.- Anatoly Karpov, 2005People knew about 110 years of chess history. Nowadays, nobody is able to tell you the name of the world champion of 2000.- Anatoly Karpov, 2005Vasiukov hadn’t won a single game against me for 59 years and then suddenly won. I can’t call it shame. Shame or no shame, it’s a pity that he won…- Viktor Korchnoi , 2012In the 70s Karpov was a darling of the Politburo or the political elite. So Kramnik is now. Just like the old days. But at least Karpov, unlike him, played in and won qualifying matches.- Veselin TopalovUnfortunately this gentlemanlike behaviour among chessplayers is out of fashion. It’s my principle that you should respect your opponent as much as you respect yourself.- Lajos Portisch, 1990Some players lose ability to think independently and rely on computers completely.- Lajos Portisch, 2012You only task in the opening is to reach a playable middle game.- Lajos PortischKramnik was the luckiest man in the history of chess. He never won a single cycle, he got all the matches that he played for political reasons.- Veselin Topalov, 2014.If we compare Carlsen with Anand or me or someone else, by ten criteria, he will be stronger in eight of them.- Veselin Topalov, 2015To Put It Mildly, I Have Not a Bit of Respect For Topalov- Vladimir Kramnik , 2015Kasparov doesn’t care about chess, but only about himself and his political goals- Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, 2015Whatever opinions people might have about Ilyumzhinov, I am sure that exactly those accusations by the US authorities are far-fetched. It looks more like a revenge for the 2014 FIDE elections which Kasparov lost to Ilyumzhinov by a wide margin.- Vladimir Kramnik, 2016Vugar Gashimov deserves to be immortalized!- Mahir Mamedov, 2014We lost the crowns of World Champions, it is sad, of course. But if you look at the rating list of top 100 players, Russia is still dominating. However, the competition is constantly growing stronger.- Arkady Dvorkovich, 2011I think I am certainly more talented than many other people. But I don’t know what talent consists of.- Magnus Carlsen, 2014