- Max Euwe - From Steinitz to Fischer, Part 1
354 games, 1859-1973 - Max Euwe - From Steinitz to Fischer, Part 2
246 games, 1873-1973 - MecKing!
Lejgvs' favorite little Mecking's games: white and black victories and primer halfs (½-½). ¡¡Mequinho, Jan.23th/1952!!
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58 games, 1966-1979 - Mikhail Botvinnik's Best Games
The best games of Botvinnik's career.
If you play Botvinnik, it is even alarming to see him write his move down. Slightly short-sighted, he stoops over his score sheet and devotes his entire attention to recording the move in the most beautifully clear script; one feels that an explosion would not distract him and that examined through a microscope not an irregularity would appear. When he wrote down 1.c2-c4 against me, I felt like resigning. – Hugh Alexander Yes, I have played a blitz game once. It was on a train, in 1929. – Mikhail Botvinnik Young man, remember this: I never played chess for pleasure. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on having it suggested to him in his latter years, that he play blitz chess for fun) Am I to understand you are unfamiliar with my game from the 1927 Soviet Metal Worker's Championship? – Mikhail Botvinnik (to a young Piket) Botvinnik could play clear positions well but was unafraid of complications - perhaps the secret being that they too were clear to Botvinnik. – Dave Regis Botvinnik almost makes you feel that difficulty attracts him and stimulates him to the full unfolding of his powers. Most players feel uncomfortable in difficult positions, but Botvinnik seems to enjoy them. Where dangers threaten from every side and the smallest slackening of attention might be fatal; in a position which requires nerves of steel and intense concentration, Botvinnik is in his element. – Max Euwe Of course, I would have crushed him! You know, every chess champion has a period in his life when he is just in a class by himself, and if for Alekhine it was the period from 1927 till 1934, for me it was from 1941 through 1948. Nobody could have beaten me at the time. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on the never played match with Alekhine) I begin my actual preparations with a review of chess literature, especially in order to acquaint myself with new and interesting games; as I read I make notes on questions which are of particular interest to me. I also study all the games played by my rivals in the forthcoming competition. I study their peculiarities of play, and their favorite opening variations; this should be especially useful when preparing for each game during the tournament. Then I study all those opening lines, which I intend to apply during the contest. Here I must remark that in my view a player should not, and indeed cannot attempt to play all the openings known to theory. For one competition three or four opening systems for White and the same for Black are quite sufficient. But these systems must be prepared thoroughly. If you do not have such systems at your command you can hardly count on finishing very high in the table. – Mikhail Botvinnik I can only think when I am calm. – Mikhail Botvinnik Chess is the art of analysis. - Mikhail Botvinnik Chess mastery essentially consists of analyzing
Chess positions accurately. - Mikhail Botvinnik
Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic - Mikhail Botvinnik Chess is a part of culture and if a culture is
declining then Chess too will decline. - Mikhail Botvinnik Chess is no whit inferior to the violin, and we have a
large number of professional violinists. - Mikhail Botvinnik Chess, like any creative activity, can exist only through
the combined efforts of those who have creative talent, and
those who have the ability to organize their creative work. - Mikhail Botvinnik Botvinnik tried to take the mystery out of Chess, always relating
it to situations in ordinary life. He used to call Chess a typical
inexact problem similar to those which people are always
having to solve in everyday life. - Garry Kasparov He has become a real school of how to avoid superficiality. – Bobby Fischer (on Botvinnik) We all view ourselves as Botvinnik's pupils, and further generations will learn by his games. – Tigran Petrosian He has made himself at home in each department of the game: opening, positional strategy, combinative tactics and endplay, so that it is impossible to say that he is stronger in one brand of play than another. His best games have the smoothness of an epic poem, rolling on grandly to their appointed end. – William Winter (on Botvinnik) Botvinnik definitely represented a new era in chess. I would call him the first true professional. He was the first to realise that chess performance was not only dependent on chess skills. He developed comprehensive preparation for competitions which consisted of opening studies along with healthy sleep, daily routine and physical exercises. He was a pioneer in this field. - Vladimir Kramnik To add:
Reshevsky vs Botvinnik, 1948
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136 games, 1924-1970 - Mikhail Shereshevsky's Endgame Strategy
Games from Mikail Shereshvsky's book. English translation,
Basic principles of endgame play.
Everyman chess,Reprinted 1985,1999,2004
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42 games, 1902-1980 - Mikhail Tal's Best Games
The best games of Tal's career.
Believe me, playing in such a style, this guy has no chess future. – Peter Romanovsky (on a young Tal) Later, I began to succeed in decisive games. Perhaps because I realized a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but also my opponent. – Mikhail Tal Tal enjoys excitement and hair-raising complications, and in that kind of game he can find his way around better than anyone else. – Paul Keres I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind. – Mikhail Tal The chess story of Mikhail Tal is about the act itself of straining against the leash of limited human imagination to create mammoth combinations on the chessboard. During his games, Tal wished to go where no chess player had ever gone before, choosing the middlegame as his métier for creative expression. He burned energy profligately. A chain-smoker and a heavy drinker, Tal pulsated nervous energy, pacing like a caged tiger in between moves. And as a young man with those famous fierce, hooded eyes and that imposing hooked nose, he bulldozed all before him. – Larry Parr Tal doesn't move the pieces by hand; he uses a magic wand. – Vyacheslav Ragozin There are two kinds of sacrifices; correct ones and mine. – Mikhail Tal Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine. – Mikhail Tal First, how to sac my queen, then rook, then bishop, then knight, then pawns. – Mikhail Tal (on what he thinks about after his opponent moves) I will not hide the fact that I love to hear the spectators react after a sacrifice of a piece or pawn. – Mikhail Tal Tal develops all his pieces in the center and then sacrifices them somewhere. – David Bronstein Even after losing four games in a row to him I still consider his play unsound. He is always on the lookout for some spectacular sacrifice, that one shot, that dramatic breakthrough to give him the win. – Bobby Fischer (on Tal) They compare me with Lasker, which is an exaggerated honor. Lasker made mistakes in every game and I only in every second one! – Mikhail Tal Tal was a fearless fighter. Nobody could successfully accomplish so many incorrect maneuvers! He simply smashed his opponents. – Bent Larsen Tal's genius consists of posing his opponents with tempting ways to go wrong. – Larry Evans I was surprised by his ability to figure out complex variations. Then the way he sets out the game; he was not interested in the objectivity of the position, whether it's better or worse, he only needed room for his pieces. All you do then is figure out variations which are extremely difficult. He was tactically outplaying me and I made mistakes. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Tal) I realized that you cannot tackle him if the pieces are mobile and active. I played closed positions in which Tal could gain no advantage. Tal had no positional understanding for closed games. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on their '61 rematch) If Tal would learn to program himself properly, then it would become quite impossible to play against him. – Mikhail Botvinnik Botvinnik’s right! When he says such things, then he’s right. Usually, I prefer not to study chess but to play it. For me chess is more an art than a science. It’s been said that Alekhine and I played similar chess, except that he studied more. Yes, perhaps, but I have to say that he played, too. – Mikhail Tal When I lost the title to Botvinnik, chess could be played quietly again! – Mikhail Tal Mother, I have just become Ex-World Champion. – Mikhail Tal (on returning home after losing the '61 rematch to Botvinnik) I did not take the tournament too seriously. I walked around the pressroom, smoked a few cigarettes and sacrificed some pieces. I am waiting until next year when I can become a new ex-world champion. – Mikhail Tal (on the '88 World Blitz Championship, which he won) It's funny, but many people don't understand why I draw so many games nowadays. They think my style must have changed but this is not the case at all. The answer to this drawing disease is that my favorite squares are e6, f7, g7 and h7 and everyone now knows this. They protect these squares not once but four times! – Mikhail Tal For him chess was his life. Without the game he could not exist. – Engelina Tal (on her late husband Mikhail) The man who has proved that you can reach the top and remain human. – Mikhail Tal (on who his chess hero was) My head is full of sunshine. – Mikhail Tal
I couldn’t make myself dislike him. – Mikhail Botvinnik (on Tal) If you wait for luck to turn up, life becomes very boring. – Mikhail Tal In chess, at least, the brave inherit the earth. – Edmar Mednis (commenting on Tal) Analyzing his chess games is tantamount to discussing what God looks like. - Vladimir Kramnik
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132 games, 1953-1992 - Modern Chess 1 (Kasparov)
'Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part One: Revolution in the 70s' by Garry Kasparov.
Translated by Kenneth Neat.
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91 games, 1923-2005 - Modern Chess 2 (Kasparov)
'Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part Two: Kasparov vs Karpov 1975-1985' by Garry Kasparov.
Translated by Kenneth Neat.
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76 games, 1975-1985 - Modern Chess 3 (Kasparov)
'Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part Three: Kasparov vs Karpov 1987-1987' by Garry Kasparov.
Translated by Kenneth Neat.
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51 games, 1986-1987 - Modern Chess 4 (Kasparov)
'Garry Kasparov on Modern Chess, Part Four: Kasparov vs Karpov 1988-2009' by Garry Kasparov.
Translated by Kenneth Neat.
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66 games, 1988-2009 - Modern Chess Instructor - Part I (Steinitz)
'The Modern Chess Instructor: Part I' by Wilhelm Steinitz.
21st Century Edition.
Edited by Peter Kurzdorfer.
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73 games, 1839-1889 - Modern Chess Instructor - Part II (Steinitz)
'The Modern Chess Instructor: Part II' by Wilhelm Steinitz.
21st Century Edition.
Edited by Peter Kurzdorfer.
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15 games, 1844-1894 - Modern Chess Miniatures
201 games, 1862-1960 - Modern Chess Strategy (Pachman)
'Modern Chess Strategy' by Ludek Pachman.
Translated and abridged by Alan Russell.
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110 games, 1855-1959 - Modern Chess Strategy I by Ludek Pachman
Ludek Pachman has written an excellent book about the chess strategy called 'La stratégie moderne' in French. These are the games analysed in the first volume.
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101 games, 1610-1973 - Modern Chess Strategy II by Ludek Pachman
Ludek Pachman has written an excellent book about the chess strategy called 'La stratégie moderne' in French. These are the games analysed in the second volume.
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96 games, 1892-1973 - Modern Chess Strategy III by Ludek Pachman
Ludek Pachman has written an excellent book about the chess strategy called 'La stratégie moderne' in French. These are the games analysed in the third volume.
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98 games, 1858-1974 - Modern Ideas in Chess (Reti)
'Modern Ideas in Chess' by Richard Reti.
New 21st century edition.
Translated by John Hart.
Edited by Bruce Albertson.
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35 games, 1849-1922 - MORPHY'S NOTES
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"I consider Mr. Morphy the finest chess player who ever existed. He is far superior to any now living, and would doubtless have beaten Labourdonnais himself. In all his games with me, he has not only played, in every instance, the exact move, but the most exact. He never makes a mistake; but, if his adversary commits the slightest error, he is lost." Adolf Anderssen in 1859. "Morphy not let me." former unofficial world champion Adolf Anderssen, when asked why he not play as brilliantly as usual against Paul Morphy. "Paul Morphy was the greatest chess player that ever lived...no one ever was so far superior to the players of his time" Dr. Emanuel Lasker, Lasker's Chess Magazine of January 1905, p.127. "In Paul Morphy the spirit of La Bourdonnais had arisen anew, only more vigorous, firmer, prouder... Morphy discovered that the brilliant move of the master is essentially conditional not on a sudden and inexplicable realisation, but on the placing of the pieces on the board. He introduced the rule: brilliant moves and deep winning manoeuvres are possible only in those positions where the opponent can be opposed with an abundance of active energy... From the very first moves Morphy aimed to disclose the internal energy located in his pieces. It was suddenly revealed that they possess far greater dynamism than the opponent's forces." Emanuel Lasker. "Morphy's principal strength does not rest upon his power of combination but in his position play and his general style....Beginning with la Bourdonnais to the present, and including Lasker, we find that the greatest stylist has been Morphy. Whence the reason, although it might not be the only one, why he is generally considered the greatest of all." José Raúl Capablanca, in Pablo Morphy by V. F. Coria and L. Palau. "[I play in] the style of Morphy, they say, and if it is true that the goddess of fortune has endowed me with his talent, the result [of the match with Emanuel Lasker] will not be in doubt. The magnificent American master had the most extraordinary brain that anybody has ever had for chess. Technique, strategy, tactics, knowledge which is inconceivable for us; all that was possessed by Morphy fifty-four years ago." José Raúl Capablanca. "...Morphy, the master of all phases of the game, stronger than any of his opponents, even the strongest of them..." Alexander Alekhine, in Shakmatny Vestnik, January 15, 1914. "To this day Morphy is an unsurpassed master of the open games. Just how great was his significance is evident from the fact that after Morphy nothing substantially new has been created in this field. Every player- from beginner to master- should in this praxis return again and again to the games of the American genius." Mikhail Botvinnik. "A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today... Morphy was perhaps the most accurate chess player who ever lived. He had complete sight of the board and never blundered, in spite of the fact that he played quite rapidly, rarely taking more than five minutes to decide a move. Perhaps his only weakness was in closed games like the Dutch Defense. But even then, he was usually victorious because of his resourcefulness." Bobby Fischer, 1968. "Morphy, I think everyone agrees, was probably the greatest genius of them all." Bobby Fischer, 1992 "We also remember the brilliant flight of the American super-genius Paul Morphy, who in a couple of years (1857-59) conquered both the New and the Old Worlds. He revealed a thunderous blend of pragmatism, aggression and accurate calculation to the world -- qualities that enabled America to accomplish a powerful spurt in the second half of the 19th century." Garry Kasparov (2003). On My Great Predecessors. Gloucester Publishers plc. Vol. 1, p. 6. "What was the secret of Morphy's invincibility? I think it was a combination of a unique natural talent and brilliant erudition. His play was the next, more mature stage in the development of chess. Morphy had a well-developed 'feeling for position', and therefore he can be confidently regarded as the 'first swallow' - the prototype of the strong 20th century grandmaster." Garry Kasparov (2003). On My Great Predecessors. Gloucester Publishers plc. Vol. 1, p. 43.
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30 games, 1834 - Move by Move - Carlsen (Lakdawala)
'Carlsen: Move by Move' by Cyrus Lakdawala.
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54 games, 2002-2014
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Kibitzing
