Top 60 Chess Quotes

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Chess is a thinking man’s game and many people have spent a lot of time thinking and talking about it. With that in mind, check out the top 60 chess quotes.

#60 – 50. Chess Quotes

60. “Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” – Rudolph Spielmann

59. “Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.” – Bobby Fischer

58. “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

57. “Nobody ever won a chess game by resigning.” – Savielly Tartakower

56. “What I admired most about him was his ability to make what was in fact so difficult look easy to us. I try to emulate him.” — Magnus Carlsen

55. “Chess is the struggle against the error.” – Johannes Zukertort

54. “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” – Garry Kasparov

53. “I am convinced, the way one plays chess always reflects the player’s personality. If something defines his character, then it will also define his way of playing.” – Vladimir Kramnik

52. “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

51. “Unlike other games in which lucre is the end and aim, [chess] recommends itself to the wise by the fact that its mimic battles are fought for no prize but honor. It is eminently and emphatically the philosopher’s game.” – Paul Morphy

50. “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

#49 – 40. Chess Quotes

49. “Knowing which pieces you want exchanged is a great help in finding the right moves.” — Graham Burgess

48. “When you see a good move, look for a better one.” – Emanuel Lasker

47. “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

46. “Give me a difficult positional game, I will play it. But totally won positions, I cannot stand them.” – Hein Donner

45. “Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.” – Mikhail Chigorin

44. “I feel this man had to be the World Champion and nothing would stop him. It was a foregone conclusion. His career took a rather roundabout course but everything was already mapped out!” — Vladimir Kramnik

43. “Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.” – Robert Hübner

42. “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

41. “Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” – Ralph Charell

40. “Chess is beautiful enough to waste your life for.” – Hans Ree

#39 – 30. Chess Quotes

39. “The passed pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient.” – Aron Nimzowitsch

38. “As proved by evidence, [chess is] more lasting in its being and presence than all books and achievements; the only game that belongs to all people and all ages; of which none knows the divinity that bestowed it on the world, to slay boredom, to sharpen the senses, to exhilarate the spirit.” – Stefan Zweig

37. “One bad move nullifies forty good ones.” – Bernhard Horwitz

36. “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

35. “Stay flexible. Be ready to transform advantages from one type to another.” — John Nunn

34. “Fischer…is abnormally sensitive to the slightest noise in the hall…Then there are other players, among them Spassky, [Viktor] Korchnoi, and myself. For us, it is simply boring to play in an empty hall. When we appear on the stage, we are artistes.” — Mikhail Tal

33. “If you want everyone to believe that you really did play a fantastic combination, be sure to play it in a tournament game.” — Graham Burgess on Adams-Torre, 1920

32. “Modern chess is too much concerned with things like pawn structure. Forget it, checkmate ends the game.” – Nigel Short

31. “I never read a [chess] book until I was already a master.” — Reuben Fine

30. “Chess makes men wiser and clear-sighted.” – Vladimir Putin

#29 – 20. Chess Quotes

29. “Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.” – Blaise Pascal

28. “There is no remorse like the remorse of chess.” – H. G. Wells

27. “The pin is mightier than the sword.” – Fred Reinfeld

26. “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

25. “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

24. “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

23. “I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.” – Marcel Duchamp

22. “There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones, and mine.” — Mikhail Tal

21. “A chess game in progress is… a cosmos unto itself, fully insulated from an infant’s cry, an erotic invitation, or war.” – David Shenk

20. “Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always, a player faces a series of difficult consequences whichever move he makes.” – David Shenk

#19 – 10. Chess Quotes

19. “The only thing chess players have in common is chess.” – Lodewijk Prins

18. “Chess, like love, like music, has the power to make men happy.” – Siegbert Tarrasch

17. “The game of chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it… Life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with.” – Benjamin Franklin

16. “I used to attack because it was the only thing I knew. Now I attack because I know it works best.” – Garry Kasparov

15. “One doesn’t have to play well, it’s enough to play better than your opponent.” – Siegbert Tarrasch

14. “If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he’s worse off.” – Nigel Short

13. “Chess doesn’t drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane.” – Bill Hartston

12. “Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev

11. “Pawns are the soul of the game.” – François-André Danican Philidor

10. “It is my style to take my opponent and myself on to unknown grounds. A game of chess is not an examination of knowledge; it is a battle of nerves.” – David Bronstein

#9 – 1. Chess Quotes

9. “The beauty of chess is it can be whatever you want it to be. It transcends language, age, race, religion, politics, gender, and socioeconomic background. Whatever your circumstances, anyone can enjoy a good fight to the death over the chess board.” – Simon Williams

8. “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

7. “Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf.” – Cecil Purdy

6. “Towering genius, riches, international fame and a far from normal childhood might be too heady a mix for anyone to handle. For him they proved fatal.” — Dick Cavett

5. “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” – Bobby Fischer

4. “The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.” – Savielly Tartakower

3. “In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” – Charles Buxton

2. “In life, as in chess, one’s own pawns block one’s way.  A man’s very wealthy, ease, leisure, children, books, which should help him to win, more often checkmate him.” – Charles Buxton

1. “It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.” – Savielly Tartakower

Ideas for the top 60 Chess Quotes come from the following sources.^[1]ichess.net – 50 Greatest Chess Quote Of All Time^[2]chess.com – 64 Chess Quote You May Not Have Heard Before‎^[3]amiradata – 75 BEST CHESS QUOTE OF ALL TIME !