The best games of Nezhmetdinov's career.

Nezhmetdinov, this nondescript short man, wearing the same suit for years and living on several cups of extremely strong tea a day, was burning himself with the best fire in the world, the search of Eternal Beauty, did not belong to the elite. For this he was too much of a genius. – Lev Khariton

Rashid Nezhmetdinov, with whose games I made my first acquaintance through the excellent books by Koblentz, has ever since my youngest chess days been my greatest secret hero. Why "secret"? Well, because there was simply no point in praising the beauty of his games to my mates since none of them had ever heard of Nezhmetdinov. Only from a certain Mr. Korchnoi did I earn an approving nod. – Richard Forster

Well, color won't matter. Nezhmetdinov can play any opening. Somewhere he will sacrifice a pawn for the initiative. Then he will sacrifice another. Then he will sacrifice a piece for an attack. The he'll probably sacrifice another piece to drive your king in the center. Then he will checkmate you. – Unknown trainer to his student, Alexey Suetin

With the passing of time, tournament tables tend to lose interest but some games played in these tournaments live forever, and in this respect Nezhmetdinov was one of the most richly endowed players. – Nigel Davies

The greatest master of the initiative. – Lev Polugaevsky (on Nezhmetdinov)

Nobody sees combinations as Rashid Nezhmetdinov. – Mikhail Botvinnik

Sunk in thought for a long time, I understood that I was to say good-by to all hope and was losing a game that would be spread all over the world. – Lev Polugaevsky (on a loss to Nezhmetdinov)

When I lost to Nezhmetdinov!! – Mikhail Tal (on the happiest day of his life)