Great chess quotes

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  • Re: Great chess quotes

    "Without men such as he, the chess world would not have been nearly what it is. It is not the rules and the precepts which make the chess community, it is the individuals." :)

    Former World Champion Dr. Max Euwe (1901-1981), writing in tribute to GM Dr. Savielly Tartakower (1887-1956), upon learning of Tartakower's death.

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    • Re: Great chess quotes

      "I am an officer of the czar!" :)
      Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946), World Champion 1927-1935 and 1937-1946, was the son of a Russian nobleman who was displaced by the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, 100 years ago. He apparently enjoyed shouting out this phrase in a thick Russian accent while banging tables!
      (Source: "The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories", by Arnold Denker and Larry Parr, 1995, p. 154.)

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      • Re: Great chess quotes

        During the London Congress of 1922, a chess patron took [J.R.] Capablanca and [Alexander] Alekhine to a music hall show. "Capablanca never took his eyes off the chorus, and Alekhine never looked up from his pocket chess set," said the patron later. :)
        [Source: "The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories", by Arnold Denker and Larry Parr, 1995, p. 151]

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        • Re: Great chess quotes

          "My friend [GM] Mendel Najdorf claims that during the Margate tournament of 1938, he mentioned to [world champion Alexander] Alekhine that they had crossed swords 11 years earlier in a simultaneous in Warsaw, Poland.
          'I won our game', said Najdorf.
          'So, you're the one who gave me the Rook', replied the world champion who played blindfolded against Najdorf." :)
          :GM Arnold Denker
          Source: The Bobby Fischer I Knew And Other Stories", by Denker and Parr, 1995.

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          • Re: Great chess quotes

            Great Chess Quotes

            May 25, 2017

            Rauf Mamedov, the Azerbaijani GM, tweeting today:

            A new proposal to the rules of chess: Every opponent has the opportunity, two times per game, to pass.
            ________

            Is this a rule in any variant of chess?

            Can anyone tell me what the benefits of this would be?

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            • Re: Great chess quotes

              Originally posted by Wayne Komer View Post
              Great Chess Quotes

              May 25, 2017

              Rauf Mamedov, the Azerbaijani GM, tweeting today:

              A new proposal to the rules of chess: Every opponent has the opportunity, two times per game, to pass.
              ________

              Is this a rule in any variant of chess?

              Can anyone tell me what the benefits of this would be?
              For fight Zugzwang

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              • Re: Great chess quotes

                "Damn, I'm in Zugzwang! - Pass"
                "Pass"
                "Pass"
                "Pass"
                "Damn!"

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                • Re: Great chess quotes

                  Originally posted by Garland Best View Post
                  "Damn, I'm in Zugzwang! - Pass"
                  "Pass"
                  "Pass"
                  "Pass"
                  "Damn!"
                  My thinking as well. If one of the opponents wants to, he can bring that back to regular chess.

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                  • Re: Great chess quotes

                    Great Chess Quotes

                    May 26, 2017

                    The Genesis of Smerdon’s Scandinavian

                    How he came to write a 496-page book on this opening

                    Way back in 2000, my high school chess team unexpectedly qualified for the final of the World Schools Chess Championships. This was quite an astonishing achievement for an unassuming school from Brisbane, Australia, and even more so given that our team’s boards two to six had an average rating of around 1800. As the only experienced player, it was my job to come up with a complete opening repertoire for both colours to teach my teammates before the final. The criteria were that it had to be narrow enough that it was guaranteed to get my teammates into ‘our’ book from the first move, easy to learn quickly, and also tricky enough that there were decent chances our much higher-rated opponents might fall into a fatal opening trap.

                    This was a tough task for only a month’s preparation, but at least against 1 e4, I thought to myself, there seemed a worthy candidate. I decided on an offbeat sideline in the Scandinavian that I knew as the ‘Portuguese’, starting with 1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 3 d4 Bg4!. As time was of the essence, I completed the repertoire against 1 e4 with the Icelandic Gambit (3 c4 e6), as well as the unnamed 3 Nf3 Bg4. Before I could teach these variations to my teammates, though, I had to learn them myself, and so I began an intense study of these obscure gambits.

                    Unfortunately, our crusade in the final was unsuccessful. (Incidentally, the Norwegian school that defeated us had just acquired a new student who, at the time, was too weak to make the team: a certain Magnus Carlsen.) On the positive side, the preparation had inspired me that there was more to these so-called dubious gambits than met the eye.

                    After finishing high school, I started playing 1…d5 in tournament games, and in 2002 I used it as my main weapon against 1 e4 in the World Junior (U20).

                    From the Introduction to Smerdon’s Scandinavian by David Smerdon, 2015.

                    496 pages!
                    Last edited by Wayne Komer; Thursday, 1st June, 2017, 04:49 PM.

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                    • Re: Great chess quotes

                      Originally posted by GM Susan Polgar
                      Below are some of my quotes over the years! Enjoy!

                      * Win with grace, lose with dignity!

                      * Life is like a chess game. Every decision, just like every move, has consequences. Therefore, decide wisely!

                      * Every defeat is an opportunity to learn from our mistakes! Every victory is a confirmation of our hard work!

                      * A chess player uses his/her knowledge to prepare for next game while a passionate coach prepares for next generation!

                      * Winning is about commitment, discipline, hard work, dedication, determination, courage and sometimes even luck!

                      * Champions play to win while others play not to lose!

                      * Passion is infectious! But passion alone isn’t enough. You also need hard work, dedication & sacrifice every day!

                      * What you lack in natural chess talent can be compensated by 110% of 3 D’s: Dedication, Determination & Discipline!

                      * Winning is a habit but so is losing! It is up to you to pick the right road to winning! Choose wisely!

                      * Chess is a game of war but a peaceful war where no human lives are at stake!

                      * Don’t wait for success to come to you. You have to knock down all obstacles & barriers every single day to find it!

                      * You have 2 choices in life: Either build your own beautiful dreams or others will hire you to build theirs!

                      * Don’t wait until tomorrow to do what you can accomplish today! Get on the road to success now!

                      * You can’t get to the other side of the sea by just staring at the waves. Be brave and take that first step!

                      * You can’t control your opponent’s playing style but you can dissect his weaknesses & exploit them to your advantage

                      * Some don’t reach their chess goals because of fear of losing. Learn from your mistakes & keep on improving daily!

                      * Follow your values & principles, and stay strong. Be who you are and not what others want you to be!

                      * The meaning of life is to find your true passion. The purpose of life is to share it.

                      * You can’t buy integrity! Practice your values every day instead of just talking about it!

                      * Don’t judge a person based on wealth, but instead on integrity and the positive impact he/she makes.

                      * It’s never too late to set new goals and dream new dreams. Just don’t procrastinate!

                      * What could you accomplish if you have no fear? Don’t be afraid to achieve your dreams because of your fear!

                      * Don’t wait for opportunities to come to you. Go create your own path and opportunities!

                      * People usually don’t succeed unless they’re passionate about what they do. Go find your passion. I found mine at 4!

                      * Success is the result of small efforts, every day, over the years. Don’t make excuses for your failure

                      * You can be as great as you want. Set realistic goals & give 110% to accomplish those goals. Never give up!

                      * When people tell me that something can’t be done, they motivate me even more to prove them wrong!

                      * The road to the top is seldom traveled because it’s hard, but the big prize at the pinnacle can be quite rewarding!

                      * Hard work does not guarantee you victory. But it WILL give you a better chance to be in the position to win!

                      * Success does not come from luck. It takes hard work, determination and perseverance!

                      * You cannot sustain greatness if you are too comfortable! To remain at the top, you constantly have to stay hungry and motivated!

                      June 1, 2017
                      St. Louis, MO, USA
                      See https://www.facebook.com/susanpolgar...68299909883142
                      Dogs will bark, but the caravan of chess moves on.

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                      • Re: Great chess quotes

                        Lovely just lovely and whats more I believe that she has lived them all. When I thought about the list I realized what a poor student I am (sobering thought)

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                        • Re: Great chess quotes

                          Great Chess Quotes

                          June 11, 2017

                          Henrique Mecking

                          The best player Brazil ever produced was Henrique Mecking, one of the giants of the seventies. Tragically his career was cut short by illness, but whilst he was around he was a fearsome opponent and not just because of his chess skill. When he played a match with Korchnoi he fidgeted so much the table shook, and during the Hasting tournament of 1971-72 he tried a novel tactic against future Welsh international George Botterill, when they were both in time trouble, Henrique pressed his clock, then kept it pressed down so poor old George couldn’t stop his ticking. The result – a loss on time for Botterill, and third place for the (if you’ll excuse the expression) irrepressible Brazilian.

                          From: The Complete Chess Addict by Mike Fox and Richard James, 1987, p. 161

                          Wikipedia - Illness (myasthenia gravis) forced his withdrawal from the Interzonal in Rio de Janeiro 1979 after a first round draw with Borislav Ivkov. His illness was so severe that it was widely believed he would soon die. He survived but did not play chess during the 1980s. While he was able to recover and to resume his chess career in 1991 with matches against Predrag Nikolić and (in 1992) Yasser Seirawan, followed by intermittent tournament appearances, his chance at the world title had passed and he did not reach the Candidates matches again.

                          - Mecking has started to play chess competitively in recent times. And he attributes his health recovery due his religious faith. I see his rating is 2620 (as at April 2015)

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                          • Re: Great chess quotes

                            Sounds like he was mecking time with Botterill. : l
                            "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." - Aesop
                            "Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato
                            "If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination." - Thomas De Quincey

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                            • Re: Great chess quotes

                              Great Chess Quotes

                              June 15, 2017

                              Why should I study Alekhine’s games?

                              From Studying the Classics by Mikhail Shereshevsky in Training for the Tournament Player, Dvoretsky and Yusupov, Batsford (1993):

                              I recently asked a certain talented player her opinion of Alekhine’s games. She replied: ‘Why should I study Alekhine’s games when I shall never need to play him?’ It appears that she only studies the games of her opponents. I am sure that this player’s prospects are greatly reduced by such an approach.

                              Why do we need to study classical games? I shall try to explain.

                              Modern chess began with Steinitz. There were some very strong players before him, such as Philidor, La Bourdonnais and Morphy, but it was Steinitz who laid the foundations of modern positional play.

                              As a trainer I am primarily interested in the practical results of my pupils. Hence it is natural that the study of the classics should interest me from the practical chessplayer’s point of view. I give all the children I train a definite programme – which may perhaps be subjective – of work involving the study of classical games.

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                              • Re: Great chess quotes

                                I've never really followed this thread much, but I've never understood why "Resign, moron!" has never been mentioned in it.

                                Steve

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