Anatoly Karpov Quotes

I consider myself to be a genius who happens to play chess.

I study chess eight hours a day, on principle.

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

If you talk to some of the older players, they definitely say they see beauty in certain games. In my case, there are certain times when I think, 'Wow, that's so amazing, chess is so full of ideas.' But most of the time I tend to be much more pragmatic about it, as opposed to thinking about it as art or something exquisite.

I know people who have all the will in the world, but still can't play good Chess

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.

I am acutely conscious, from vast experience in opens, that guys around, say 2100 or more can definitely play chess and that one often has to work very hard to beat them.

Chess is not a game, but a disease.

A grandmaster needs to retain thousands of games in his head, for games are to him what the words of their mother tongue are to ordinary people, or notes or scores to musicians.

My very first book was a games collection of Anatoly Karpov. On the whole I was attracted by positonal play with some tactics, and already then I was aiming for universality.

The first great chess players, including the world champion, got by perfectly well without constant coaches.

A grandmaster must memorize thousands of chess duels in his head, as these are for him what words of the mother tongue are to the ordinary people and what notes are to a musician.

A great chessplayer is not a great man, for he leaves the world as he found it.

The essence of Capablanca's greatness is his rare talent for avoiding all that can complicate or confuse the conflict.

The legend of the best player of chess has been destroyed.

Amberley excelled at chess - a mark, Watson, of a scheming mind.

It is impossible to win gracefully at chess.

You can become a big master in chess only if you see your mistakes and short-comings. Exactly the same as in life itself.

Alekhine's real genius is in the preparation and construction of a position, long before combinations or mating attacks come into consideration at all.

Blitz chess kills your ideas.

Tactics involve calculations that can tax the human brain, but when you boil them down, they are actually the simplest part of chess and are almost trivial compared to strategy.

A master looks at every move he would like to make, especially the impossible ones

Chess demands total concentration

Today, chess programs have become so good that even grandmasters sometimes struggle to understand the logic behind some of their moves.

The best indicator of a Chess Player's form is his ability to sense the Climax of the game.