From grandmasters to novel authors along with people of all backgrounds, chess has been talked about for centuries now. In this endless discussion over the game, we bring you 64 quotes about chess that will motivate you to start or continue playing it!
From a1 to h1
1. “Chess is the struggle against the error.” – Johannes Zukertort
2. “Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev
3. “Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” – Ralph Charell
4. “Chess makes men wiser and clear-sighted.” – Vladimir Putin
5. “Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.” – Albert Einstein
6. “Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.” – Bobby Fischer
7. “Chess is the struggle against the error.” – Johannes Zukertort
8. “Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.” – Blaise Pascal
From a2 to h2
9. “Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev
10. “Even the laziest King flees wildly in the face of a double check!” - Aaron Nimzowitsch
11. “We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a Chess player's nature.” - Rudolf Spielman
12. “Nothing excites jaded Grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty.” -Dominic Lawson
13. “A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror” - Wilhelm Steinitz
14. “Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack” - Wilhelm Steinitz
15. “Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always, a player faces a series of difficult consequences whichever move he makes.” – David Shenk
16. “When you see a good move, look for a better one.” – Emanuel Lasker
From a3 to h3
17. “Half the variations which are calculated in a tournament game turn out to be completely superfluous. Unfortunately, no one knows in advance which half.” – Jan Timman
18. “Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.” – Mikhail Chigorin
19. “Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do; strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.” – Savielly Tartakower
20. “In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” – Charles Buxton
21. “You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.” – José Raúl Capablanca
22. “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” – Bobby Fischer
23. “Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” – Rudolph Spielmann
24. “I used to attack because it was the only thing I knew. Now I attack because I know it works best.” – Garry Kasparov
From a4 to h4
25. “It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.” – Savielly Tartakower
26. “One doesn’t have to play well, it’s enough to play better than your opponent.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
27. “Up to this point, White has been following well-known analysis. But now he makes a fatal error: he begins to use his own head.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
28. “Of chess, it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess.” – William Napier
29. “Chess is beautiful enough to waste your life for.” – Hans Ree
30. “A chess game in progress is… a cosmos unto itself, fully insulated from an infant’s cry, an erotic invitation, or war.” – David Shenk
31. “It will be cheering to know that many people are skillful chess players, though in many instances their brains, in a general way, compare unfavorably with the cognitive faculties of a rabbit.” – James Mortimer
32. “The pin is mightier than the sword.” – Fred Reinfeld
From a5 to h5
33. “The only thing chess players have in common is chess.” – Lodewijk Prins
34. “Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.” – Robert Hübner
35. “One bad move nullifies forty good ones.” – Bernhard Horwitz
36. “If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he’s worse off.” – Nigel Short
37. “Your body has to be in top condition. Your chess deteriorates as your body does. You can’t separate body and mind. ” – Bobby Fisher
38. "A good player is always lucky." - Jose Raul Capablanca.
39. “The hardest game to win is a won game” – Emanuel Lasker
40. "Chess is not for timid souls."- Wilhelm Steinitz
From a6 to h6
41. "Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer." -Albert Einstein
42. “Chess is a curse upon a man." - H. G. Wells
43. “Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game.”- Wilhelm Steinitz
44. "Chess is as much a mystery as women." – Purdy
45. “He who fears an isolated Queen’s Pawn should give up Chess” -Siegbert Tarrasch
46. “It doesn’t matter how strong a player you are, if you fail to register some development in the opening, then you are asking for trouble.”- John Emms
47. “When having an edge, [Anatoly] Karpov often marked time and still gained the advantage! I don't know anyone else who could do that, it's incredible.”- Vladimir Kramnik
48. "Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life." -Edward Morgan Forster
From a7 to h7
49. “A king may be the most important piece on the chessboard; however, the queen is the most powerful.” -Karim R. Ellis
50. "To venture an opinion is like moving a piece at chess: it may be taken, but it forms the beginning of a game that is won." -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
51. “It is no easy matter to reply correctly to [Emanuel] Lasker's bad moves.”- W.H.K. Pollock
52. “For in the idea of chess and the development of the chess mind we have a picture of the intellectual struggle of mankind.”- Richard Réti
53. "Chess, like love, is infectious at any age”. -Salo Flohr
54. "Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands!" -Renaud and Kahn.
55. "In Chess, just as in life, today's bliss may be tomorrow's poison." -Assaic.
56. "Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders". -Savielly Tartakower.
From a8 to h8
57. "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''. - Magnus Carlsen
58. "I don't know whether computers are improving the style of play, I know they are changing it. Chess has become a different game, one could say that computers have changed the world of chess. That is pretty clear." - Vladimir Kramnik
59. " When asked, -How is that you pick better moves than your opponents?, I responded: I'm very glad you asked me that, because, as it happens, there is a very simple answer. I think up my own moves, and I make my opponent think up his." - Alexander Alekhine
60. "Help your pieces so they can help you." - Paul Morphy
61." The shortcoming of hanging pawns is that they present a convenient target for attack. As the exchange of men proceeds, their potential strength lessens and during the endgame they turn out, as a rule, to be weak." - Boris Spassky
62." Chess is a very logical game and it is the man who can reason most logically and profoundly in it that ought to win." - Jose Raul Capablanca
63. “After a bad opening, there is hope for the middle game. After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame. But once you are in the endgame, the moment of truth has arrived.” – Edmar Mednis
64. "Chess is the art of analysis." - Mikhail Botvinnik
