Boris Spassky Quotes

Nowadays the dynamic element is more important in chess - players more often sacrifice material to obtain dynamic compensation.

In chess there can never be a favorite move. I can probably pinpoint in a specific game, there might be a move that was like, "Oh, that was a good move." And maybe certain moves turned the whole game around, but there's not one special move that does that, unless it's checkmate because that's when the game is over.

Capablanca did not apply himself to opening theory (in which he never therefore achieved much), but delved deeply into the study of end-games and other simple positions which respond to technique rather than to imagination.

I honestly feel very humble when I study Capablanca's games.

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.

I have found after 1.d4 there are more opportunities for richer play.

My forte was the middlegame. I had a good feeling for the critical moments of the play. This undoubtedly compensated for my lack of opening preparation and, possibly, not altogether perfect play in the endgame. In my games things often did not reach the endgame!

Chess is life in miniature. Chess is struggle, chess is battles

I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings.

The very idea of how chess players manipulate their game excites me.

I learned to play chess at a young age, and I think that's where learning to plan things out and put things in position, that was the best thing for me.

Everybody uses computers to train so much now that the first nine or 10 moves of a match are made without thinking.

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

Modern Chess is too much concerned with things like Pawn structure. Forget it, Checkmate ends the game

Chess is one of the few arts where composition takes place simultaneously with performance

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

In the ending the king is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns.

Chess is a forcing house where the fruits of character can ripen more fully than in life

Chess, like other arts, must be practiced to be appreciated.

No one ever won a chess game by betting on each move. Sometimes you have to move backward to get a step forward.

Chess is everything: art, science, and sport.

I study chess eight hours a day, on principle.

All I ever want to do is just play chess.

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

It means being able to resist the urge for immediate gratification and opt for the course of action that will pay off later.