Gioachino Greco's games are worthy of study, a violent precursor to attacking artists Adolph Anderssen and Paul Morphy. These two giants take part in a King's Gambit section at the bottom of the list.* Old P-K4 Miniatures: Game Collection: Games for Classes
* Here's a link to Paul Morphy Miniatures:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...
* Many gambits from all openings by ECO code: https://www.jimmyvermeer.com/openin...
* Glossary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloss...
InkHarted wrote:
Checkmate.
I started off as an equal
I have everything that they do
my life was one and the same as my foe
childish battles of lesser
I won baring cost of a little
but as time outgrew my conscience
I found that the pieces were moving against me
with time my company reduced
they left one by one
all in time forgetting me
my castles collapsed
my religion dissuaded
my protectors in hiding
I could not run anymore
I have been cornered to a wall
as the queen left silently
without saying goodbye
I could not live any longer
she was most precious to me
I could not win without her by my side
so the king knelt down and died.
* FIDE Laws of Chess (2018): https://www.schachschiri.de/fide_18...
* Records: http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/records...
* Wikipedia on Computer Chess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compu...
* Susan Polgar Daily: https://chessdailynews.com/
* Prep for Ivan: http://gettingto2000.blogspot.com/
* John's brother Lee: https://hotoffthechess.com/
* Children's Chess: https://chessimprover.com/category/...
* Amateur / Pins: http://amateur-chess.blogspot.com/
* Improver: https://chessimprover.com/author/br...
* Jimmy's place: http://www.jimmyvermeer.com/
Jimmy is a CGs member.
<Chess has six different kinds of pieces, and they all interact in myriad ways. Your opponent’s own pieces can often be used against him.While the Queen is the strongest piece, it is the weakest defender; and while the pawn is the weakest piece, it is the strongest defender.
José Raúl Capablanca used the principle "Cutting off pieces from the scene of action.">
“Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.” – Alexander Alekhine
“To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.” – Savielly Tartakower
“Among a great many other things that chess teaches you is to control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good. It trains you to think before grabbing and to think just as objectively when you’re in trouble.”
-- Stanley Kubrick
“Chess helps you to concentrate, improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules, take responsibility for your actions, how to problem solve in an uncertain environment.” – Garry Kasparov
“Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
“Confidence is very important – even pretending to be confident. If you make a mistake but do not let your opponent see what you are thinking then he may overlook the mistake.” – Viswanathan Anand
Aristotle once asked "What is it about a thing that makes a thing what it is?"
"It is only after our basic needs for food and shelter have been met that we can hope to enjoy the luxury of theoretical speculations." -- Aristotle.
"To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born, is to remain always a child." -- Cicero
“Life is a gameboard. Time is your opponent. If you procrastinate, you will lose the game. Make a move to be victorious.” – Napolean Hill
"Life is a song - sing it. Life is a game - play it. Life is a challenge - meet it. Life is a dream - realize it. Life is a sacrifice - offer it. Life is love - enjoy it." -- Sai Baba
“Chess is a miniature version of life. To be successful, you need to be disciplined, assess resources, consider responsible choices, and adjust when circumstances change.” – Susan Polgar
“If you wish to succeed you must brave the risk of failure.” -- Garry Kasparov
“Life is like a game of chess. I cannot undo the moves but I can make the next step better.” -- Edwin Tan
"We do not remember days, we remember moments." -- Cesare Pavese
“Chess is a matter of delicate judgment, knowing when to punch and how to duck.” – Bobby Fischer
“Attack! Always Attack!” – Adolf Anderssen
"What we think, we become." -- Buddha
"Avoid exposing your king to check." -- Yasser Seirawan, paraphrased
"Protect your pieces."
"Safety first is fine, but first, last and always is fatal" -- Al Horowitz
"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship." -- Buddha
“Pawns are born free, yet they are everywhere in chains.”
– Rick Kennedy
“The task of the positional player is systematically to accumulate slight advantages and try to convert temporary advantages into permanent ones, otherwise the player with the better position runs the risk of losing it.”
– Wilhelm Steinitz
"Simple plans are best. Tactics will prevail." -- C.J.S. Purdy
"To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear." -- Buddha
"Creating little plans. Now, when we think about plans in chess, we think about [grand] grandmaster plans. You have to calculate ten moves deep. You have to know what's going to happen in ten moves, know that strong. What Jonathan Hawkins talks about [IM Hawkins book: Amateur to IM] is you have to create small plans which are doable which you can execute easily. One, two, three move plans which your opponent is not going to be able to prevent, which are easy to visualize and execute." -- @HangingPawns
“All things being equal, the player will prevail who first succeeds in uniting the efforts of both rooks in an important direction.”
– Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
“People who want to improve should take their defeats as lessons, and endeavor to learn what to avoid in the future. You must always have the courage of your convictions. If you think your move is good, make it.” – Jose Raul Capablanca
“Life is a chess match. Every decision you make has a consequence to it.” – P.K. Subban
"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill." -- Buddha
“Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always, a player faces a series of difficult consequences whichever move he makes.” – David Shenk
“We should praise, rather, the courage of the player who, relying only on his intuition, plunges into a brilliant combination of which the issue does not appear to him too clear.” – Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
"The beauty of a game of chess is usually assessed according to the sacrifices it contains." -- Rudolf Spielmann
"I can comprehend Alekhine's combinations well enough; but where he gets his attacking chances from and how he infuses such life into the very opening - that is beyond me." -- Rudolf Spielmann
“Self-confidence is very important. If you don’t think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucial moments, out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. I have always believed in what I do on the chessboard, even when I had no objective reason to. It is better to overestimate your prospects than underestimate them.” – Magnus Carlsen
"Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind." -- Buddha
"For God so loved the World that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." -- Jesus Christ
"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." -- Confucius
“Chess is not only knowledge and logic.” – Alexander Alekhine
“Chess is like life. To succeed in either one takes patience, planning, concentration, the willingness to set goals, and an inclination to see deeply into things. You have to go for the thing beyond. Chess is about seeing the underlying reality.” – Maurice Ashley
"Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence." -- Buddha
“Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” – Rudolph Spielmann
“I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” – Bobby Fischer
“I used to attack because it was the only thing I knew. Now I attack because I know it works best.” – Garry Kasparov
“It is my style to take my opponent and myself on to unknown grounds. A game of chess is not an examination of knowledge; it is a battle of nerves.” – David Bronstein
2. “I’m convinced, the way one plays chess always reflects the player’s personality. If something defines his character, then it will also define his way of playing.” – Vladimir Kramnik
"Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace." -- Buddha
3. “Unlike other games in which lucre is the end and aim, [chess] recommends itself to the wise by the fact that its mimic battles are fought for no prize but honor. It’s eminently and emphatically the philosopher’s game.” – Paul Morphy
4. “Chess, it’s the struggle against error.” – Johannes Zukertort
6. “Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev
7. “Chess holds its master in its own hand, shackling the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.” – Albert Einstein
“Nobody ever won a chess game by resigning.” – Savielly Tartakower
"However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?" -- Buddha
“The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.” – Savielly Tartakower
“It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.” – Savielly Tartakower
“One doesn’t have to play well, it’s enough to play better than your opponent.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
“Up to this point, White has been following well-known analysis. But now he makes a fatal error: he begins to use his own head.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
“Of chess, it has been said that life is not long enough for it, but that is the fault of life, not chess.” – William Napier / Irving Chernev
"The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness." -- Arthur Schopenhauer
“Chess is beautiful enough to waste your life for.” – Hans Ree
"Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule." -- Buddha
“A chess game in progress is… a cosmos unto itself, fully insulated from an infant’s cry, an erotic invitation, or war.” – David Shenk
“It will be cheering to know that many people are skillful chess players, though in many instances their brains, in a general way, compare unfavorably with the cognitive faculties of a rabbit.” – James Mortimer
“The pin is mightier than the sword.” – Fred Reinfeld
“The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary.”
– Aaron Nimzovich
“If you don’t know what to do, find your worst piece and look for a better square.”
– Gerald Schwarz
“You can’t overestimate the importance of psychology in chess, and as much as some players try to downplay it, I believe that winning requires a constant and strong psychology not just at the board but in every aspect of your life.”
– Garry Kasparov
"In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves." -- Buddha
“There is no remorse like the remorse of chess.”
– H. G. Wells
“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.”
– Anatoly Karpov
“The only thing chess players have in common is chess.” – Lodewijk Prins
“Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.” – Robert Hübner
“One bad move nullifies forty good ones.” – Bernhard Horwitz
“If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he’s worse off.” – Nigel Short
9. “Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.” – Blaise Pascal
"The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve." -- Buddha
C.J.S. Purdy (Five times Australian Champion, IM, and the first World Champion of Correspondence Chess) summed up the answer to your question in one simple phrase: "Look for moves that smite!"
10. “Attackers may sometimes regret bad moves, but it’s much worse to forever regret an opportunity you allowed to pass you by.” – Garry Kasparov
11. “The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.” – Aron Nimzowitsch
"No legacy is so rich as honesty." -- William Shakespeare
12. “Even the laziest king flees wildly in the face of a double check.” – Aron Nimzowitsch
"It is never safe to take the queen knight pawn with the queen – even when it is safe." -- Hungarian proverb
“The passed pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient.” – Aron Nimzowitsch
“Modern chess is too much concerned with things like pawn structure. Forget it, checkmate ends the game.” – Nigel Short
“Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf.” – Cecil Purdy
13. “Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders.” – Savielly Tartakower
"Man's nature is as thin as sheets of tissue paper; the world is like a game of chess, varying at every move." -- Chinese proverb
15. “If you see a good move, look for a better one.” – Emanuel Lasker
16. “The winner of the game is the player who makes the next to last mistake.” –Savielly Tartakower
17. “The hardest game to win is a won game.” – Emanuel Lasker
18. “Many has become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
19. “A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it.” – Wilhelm Steinitz
"A good sacrifice is one that is not necessarily sound but leaves your opponent dazed and confused." -- Rudolf Spielmann
"We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a chess player’s nature." -- Rudolf Spielmann
"Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement." -- Henry Ford
"No legacy is so rich as honesty." -- William Shakespeare
20. “Enormous self-belief, intuition, the ability to take a risk at a critical moment and go in for a very dangerous play with counter-chances for the opponent it’s precisely these qualities that distinguish great players” – Garry Kasparov
"To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent." -- Buddha
21. “Too many times, people do not try their best. They do not have the keen spirit, the winning spirit. And once you make it you have got to guard your reputation – every day go in like an unknown to prove yourself. That is why I don’t clown around. I do not believe in wasting time. My goal is to win the World Chess Championship; to beat the Russians. I take this very seriously.” – Bobby Fischer
22. The single most important thing in life is to believe in yourself regardless of what everyone else says”. – Hikaru Nakamura
"A man of high principles is someone who can watch a chess game without passing comment." -- Chinese Proverb
"Chess can be described as the movement of pieces eating one another." -- Marcel Duchamp
"The stomach is an essential part of the chessmaster." – Bent Larsen
"The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground." -- Buddha
"If your opponent cannot do anything active, then don’t rush the position. Instead you should let him sit there, suffer, and beg you for a draw." – Jeremy Silman
23. “If you’re going to make your mark among masters, you’ve to work far harder and more intensively, or, to put it more exactly, the work is far more complex than that needed to gain the title of Master.” – Mikhail Botvinnik
"One gets to know people well when playing at chess and on journeys." -- Russian Proverb
24. “The ability to work hard for days on end without losing focus is a talent. The ability to keep absorbing new information after many hours of study is a talent.” – Garry Kasparov
“You must work and do good, not be lazy and gamble, if you wish to earn happiness. Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.... I can’t understand people who don’t like work ...” — Anne Frank (1929–1945)
25. “Those who think that it’s easy to play chess are mistaken. During a game, a player lives on his nerves, and at the same time he must be perfectly composed.” – Victor Kortchnoi
"What is the object of playing a gambit opening?… To acquire a reputation of being a dashing player at the cost of losing a game." -- Siegbert Tarrasch
"Many Chess players were surprised when after the game, Fischer quietly explained: ‘I had already analyzed this possibility’ in a position which I thought was not possible to foresee from the opening." -- Mikhail Tal
"I consider Fischer to be one of the greatest opening experts ever." -- Keith Hayward
"Adequate compensation for a sacrifice is having a sound combination leading to a winning position. Adequate compensation for a blunder is having your opponent snatch defeat from the jaws of victory." -- Bruce A. Moon
“Chess payers are an impecunious lot.” -- Samuel Reshevsky
"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." -- Buddha
"Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." -- Jesus Christ
"In chess the important thing is to apply what you know…it is important to understand that during a game of chess we do not learn things...we apply things we know (I keep stressing this)." -- Tartajubow
"It doesn’t require much for misfortune to strike in the King’s Gambit – one incautious move, and Black can be on the edge of the abyss." -- Anatoly Karpov
"It is no secret that any talented player must in his soul be an artist, and what could be dearer to his heart and soul than the victory of the subtle forces of reason over crude material strength! Probably everyone has his own reason for liking the King`s Gambit, but my love for it can be seen in precisely those terms." -- David Bronstein
"It would be as naive to study the song of the nightingale, as it would be ridiculous to try and win a King’s Gambit against a representative of the old chess guard." -- David Bronstein
"Why are not more King’s Gambits played nowadays? Well, in the first place, if you offered the King’s Gambit to a master, eight times out of ten he would decline it, either with 2. … d5 or 2. … Bc5." -- Frank Marshall
"By what right does White, in an absolutely even position, such as after move one, when both sides have advanced 1. e4, sacrifice a pawn, whose recapture is quite uncertain, and open up his kingside to attack? And then follow up this policy by leaving the check of the black queen open? None whatever!" -- Emanuel Lasker
"Theory regards this opening as incorrect, but it is impossible to agree with this. Out of the five tournament games played by me with the King’s Gambit, I have won all five." -- David Bronstein
“First-class players lose to second-class players because second-class players sometimes play a first-class game” -- Siegbert Tarrasch
“Weak points or holes in the opponent’s position must be occupied by pieces not Pawns” -- Siegbert Tarrasch
“It is not enough to be a good player… you must also play well.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
“Tactics flow from a superior position.” – Bobby Fischer
“In Chess, as it is played by masters, chance is practically eliminated” -- Emanuel Lasker
“The passion for playing Chess is one of the most unaccountable in the world” --H.G. Wells
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." -- Jesus Christ
“The older I grow, the more I value Pawns” -- Paul Keres
The sign of a great Master is his ability to win a won game quickly and painlessly” -- Irving Chernev
“One bad move nullifies forty good ones” -- Bernhard Horwitz
“Every Pawn is a potential Queen” -- James Mason
“Chess is 99 percent tactics” -- Richard Teichmann
“Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponents mind”
-- Bobby Fischer
“Chess demands total concentration” -- Bobby Fischer
“Chess is everything: art, science and sport” -- Anatoly Karpov
“Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic” -- Mikhail Botvinnik)
“I quote another man’s saying; unluckily, that other withdraws himself in the same way, and quotes me.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
26. “Boxing is like a chess. You encourage your opponent to make mistakes so you can capitalize on it. People think you get in the ring and see the red mist, but it is not about aggression. Avoiding knockout is tactical.” – Nicola Adams
27. “Drawing is rather like playing chess. Your mind races ahead of time that you eventually make.” – David Hockney
"No fantasy, however rich, no technique, however masterly, no penetration into the psychology of the opponent, however deep, can make a chess game a work of art, if these qualities do not lead to the main goal – the search for truth." – Vasily Smyslov
"When my opponent’s clock is going I discuss general considerations in an internal dialogue with myself. When my own clock is going I analyze concrete variations." – Mikhail Botvinnik
28. “In life, as in chess, one’s own pawns block one’s way. A man’s very wealth, ease, leisure, children, books, which should help him to win, more often checkmate him. – Charles Buxton
"Life is like a game of chess. To win you have to make a move. Knowing which move to make comes with IN-SIGHT and knowledge, and by learning the lessons that are acculated along the way. We become each and every piece within the game called life!" -- Allan Rufus
29. “Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.” – Bobby Fischer
"Women, by their nature, are not exceptional chess players: they are not great fighters." -- Gary Kasparov
"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing." -- Emo Philips
30. “Chess does not drive people mad, it keeps mad people sane.” – Bill Hartston
31. “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” – says Garry Kasparov
"In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head." -- Arthur Schopenhauer
"During a Chess competition a Chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk." – Alekhine
32. “Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.” – Evan Esar
33. The most powerful weapon in Chess is to have the next move.” – David Bronstein
34. “Chess is the art of analysis.” – Mikhail Botvinnik
35. “Chess makes a man wiser & clear-sighted.” – Vladimir Putin
36. “You can only get good at chess if you love the game.”– Bobby Fischer
37. “The essence of chess is thinking about what CHESS is.” – David Bronstein
38. “Chess isn’t for the timid.” – Irving Chernev
39. “Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe.” – Proverb (Indian)
"The history of chess is largely a chronicle of self-imposed intimidation and untimely excitement." -- W.E. Napier
“If you have made a mistake or committed an inaccuracy there is no need to become annoyed and to think that everything is lost. You have to reorientate yourself quickly and find a new plan in the new situation.” – David Bronstein
“You need to have that edge, you need to have that confidence, you need to have that absolute belief you’re the best, and that you’ll win every time.” -- Magnus Carlsen
“Without error there can be no brilliancy.” – Emanuel Lasker
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu.
“The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.” – Savielly Tartakower
“Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation.” – Max Euwe
“He who has a slight disadvantage plays more attentively, inventively and more boldly than his antagonist who either takes it easy or aspires after too much. Thus a slight disadvantage is very frequently seen to convert into a good, solid advantage.” – Emanuel Lasker
“Things often did not reach the endgame!” – Boris Spassky
“After a bad opening, there is hope for the middle game. After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame. But once you are in the endgame, the moment of truth has arrived.” – Edmar Mednis
“The passed pawn is a criminal, who should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient.” – Aron Nimzowitsch
“Sometimes the hardest thing to do in a pressure situation is to allow the tension to persist. The temptation is to make a decision, any decision, even if it is an inferior choice.” -- Garry Kasparov
“Chess is a great game. It’s a lot of fun, but sometimes you wonder what else is out there.” – Hikaru Nakamura
“There are two classes of men; those who are content to yield to circumstances and who play whist; those who aim to control circumstances, and who play Chess.” – Mortimer Collins
“Chess is a game where all different sorts of people can come together, not a game in which people are divided because of their religion or country of origin.” – Hikaru Nakamura
40. “Chess is life and every game is like a new life. “ – Eduard Gufeld
41. “It’s an eminently and emphatically the philosopher’s game.” – Paul Morphy
42. “Chess is as much a mystery as women.” – C.J.S. Purdy
43. “Chess is an infinitely complex game, which one can play in infinitely numerous & varied ways.” – Vladimir Kramnik
44. “Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands.” – Renaud & Kahn
45. “Chess is a terrific way for kids to build self-image and self-esteem.” - Saudin Robovic
46. “In life, unlike chess the game continues after checkmate.” - Isaac Asimov
47. “Chess isn’t always about winning. Sometimes, it is simply about learning and so is life.” – Anonymous
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." --Confucius
"There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living." -- Nelson Mandela
"It is by loving and not by being loved that one can come nearest to the soul of another." -- George MacDonald
"Dream big, stay positive, work hard, and enjoy the journey." -- Urijah Faber
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." -- Eleanor Roosevelt
"Some men have thousands of reasons why they cannot do what they want to, when all they need is one reason why they can." -- Martha Graham
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one." -- Mark Twain
"Satisfaction consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of life." -- Arthur Schopenhauer
48. “When your house is on fire, you cannot be bothered with the neighbors. Or, as we say in chess, if your King is under attack, do not worry about losing a pawn on the queenside.” – Garry Kasparov
49. “Learn to play many roles, to be whatever the moment requires. Adapt your mask to the situation.” – Robert Greene
50. “Tactics is knowing what to do when there’s something to do. Strategy is knowing what to do when there’s nothing what to do.” – Savielly Tartakower
“Some part of a mistake is always correct.” -- Savielly Tartakower
“It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.” – Savielly Tartakower
“The most important feature of the Chess position is the activity of the pieces. This is absolutely fundamental in all phases of the game: Opening, Middlegame and especially Endgame. The primary constraint on a piece’s activity is the Pawn structure.” – Michael Stean
“That’s what chess is all about. One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one.” – Bobby Fischer
“Winning is not a secret that belongs to a very few, winning is something that we can learn by studying ourselves, studying the environment, and making ourselves ready for any challenge that is in front of us.” – Garry Kasparov
“I see only one move ahead, but always the best move.” -- Charles Jaffe
"Your only task in the opening is to reach a playable middlegame." - Lajos Portisch.
51. “The highest part of the chess player lies in not allowing your opponent to show you what he can do.” – Garry Kasparov
52. “If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure.” – Garry Kasparov
53. “There are more adventures on a chessboard than on all the seas of the world.” – Pierre Mac Orlan
“To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess.” – Mikhail Tal
“I go over many games collections and pick up something from the style of each player.” – Mikhail Tal
“The shortcoming of hanging pawns is that they present a convenient target for attack. As the exchange of men proceeds, their potential strength lessens and during the endgame they turn out, as a rule, to be weak.” – Boris Spassky
54. “As proved by evidence, it (chess) is more lasting in its being and presence than all books and achievements; the only game that belongs to all people and all ages; of which none knows the divinity that bestowed it on the world, to slay boredom, to sharpen the senses, to exhilarate the spirit.” – Stefan Zweig
55. “Chess is a sport. The main object in the game of chess remains the achievement of victory.” – Max Euwe
57. “Life is like a chess. If you lose your queen, you will probably lose the game.” – Being Caballero
“Half the variations which are calculated in a tournament game turn out to be completely superfluous. Unfortunately, no one knows in advance which half.” – Jan Timman
58. “Life is like a game of chess. To win you need to make a move. Knowing which move to make comes with insight and knowledge and by learning the lessons that are accumulated along the way. We become each and every piece within the game called LIFE” – Alan Rufus
59. “Sometimes it’s better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing.” – Tony Blair
61. “Life is like a chess game. If you play the right move, at the right time you’ll win the game.” – says Sruti
62. “I prefer to lose a really good game than to win a bad one.” – David Levy
63. “When you’re lonely, when you feel yourself an alien in the world, play Chess. This will raise your spirits and be your counselor in war” – Aristotle
64. “A bad plan is better than none at all.” – Frank Marshal
“Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.” – Mikhail Chigorin
"So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." -- Jesus Christ
65. “Chess is a simple game, but it is that very simplicity that makes the player’s personalities come out.” – Gamou Jirou
66. “Let a man play chess, and tell him that every pawn is his friend; Let him think both bishops are holy. Let him remember happy days in the shadows of his castles. Let him love his queen. Watch him love his queen.” – Mark Lawrence (Prince of Thorn)
"Alekhine is a player I’ve never really understood. He always wanted a superior centre; he maneuvered his pieces toward the kingside, and around the 25th move, began to mate his opponent. He disliked exchanges, preferring to play with many pieces on the board. His play was fantastically complicated, more so than any player before or since." – Bobby Fischer
“The beauty of chess is it can be whatever you want it to be. It transcends language, age, race, religion, politics, gender, and socioeconomic background. Whatever your circumstances, anyone can enjoy a good fight to the death over the chess board.” – Simon Williams
“For in the idea of chess and the development of the chess mind we have a picture of the intellectual struggle of mankind.” – Richard Réti
“Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always, a player faces a series of difficult consequences whichever move he makes.” – David Shenk
“After a bad opening, there is hope for the middle game. After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame. But once you are in the endgame, the moment of truth has arrived.” – Edmar Mednis
“There is no remorse like the remorse of chess.” – H. G. Wells
“You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.” – José Raúl Capablanca
"If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants." --- Isaac Newton
"My main purpose is to gain recognition for myself by means of a new idea of which no one has conceived, or perhaps has been unable to practice; that is, good play of the pawns; they are the soul of chess: it is they alone that determine the attack and the defense, and the winning or losing of the game depends entirely on their good or bad arrangement." - François-André Danican Philidor
“I’ve come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.” – Marcel Duchamp
Kevin Spraggett talks about his thoughts on what it takes to reach the magic 2200 level. "A chess master is a very competent player who has not only achieved the firm UNDERSTANDING that the game of chess is actually a series of 'mini-games' (i.e. opening, middlegame, endgame), each with its own very distinct characteristics, but has also achieved the ABILITY to construct his own chess game from these very same elements."
‘… I have always been an erratic player, even when I was at my best. At that time, when Marshall and myself entered a tournament, the general opinion was that we could as well finish at the top as at the tail of it.’
-- Jacques Mieses, BCM, October 1944, page 232.
"There are two types of sacrifices: Correct ones and mine." -- Mikhail Tal
"My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian." -- Samuel Reshevsky
"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." -- Thomas Jefferson
“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.” - Isaac Asimov
“If you are not big enough to lose, you are not big enough to win.” – Walter Reuther
“In chess, just as in life, today’s bliss may be tomorrow’s poison. – Assaic
“People who claim they understand chess actually don’t.” — Robert Hübner.
“At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box.” – Italian proverb
“The game of chess is not just an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it… Life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often pointed to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Avoid the crowd. Do your own thinking independently. Be the chess player, not the chess piece.” – Ralph Charell
"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth." -- Henry David Thoreau
"Virtue is persecuted more by the wicked than it is loved by the good." -- Buddha
"Fact and fable are commonly intermingled, and chess historians have a hard time disentangling them, for the game’s literature is particularly blighted by untrustworthy assertions, rickety anecdotes and dubious quotes. The intention of the Chess Notes series, which began in 1982, is to sort out fact from fable and to present fresh, accurate material." -- Edward Winter
"Wisdom comes alone through suffering." -- Aeschylus
"And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." -- Jesus Christ
"Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying." -- Martin Luther
"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." -- Buddha
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." -- Mark Twain
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -- Maya Angelou
"Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human." -- Tony Robbins
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." -- Steve Jobs
Two people are playing Chess. They play five games. They both win three games. Without any ties, draws, or surrenders, how is this possible?
Answer: They are playing with different people.
How many squares are in a chessboard?
Answer: 204 squares. 64 one-by-one squares, 49 two-by-two, 36 three-by-three, 25 four-by-four, 16 five-by-five, 9 six-by-six, 4 seven-by-seven, and 1 eight-by-eight.
Question: What did the chess player say to the waiter?
Answer: Check, please.
"From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow." -- Aeschylus
"Charity bestowed upon those who are worthy of it is like good seed sown on a good soil that yields an abundance of fruits. But alms given to those who are yet under the tyrannical yoke of the passions are like seed deposited in a bad soil. The passions of the receiver of the alms choke, as it were, the growth of merits." -- Buddha
"I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." -- Jesus Christ
"Compassion is the basis of morality." -- Arthur Schopenhauer
“It is a well-known phenomenon that the same amateur who can conduct the middle game quite creditably, is usually perfectly helpless in the end game. One of the principal requisites of good chess is the ability to treat both the middle and end game equally well.” – Aron Nimzowitsch
“I have always a slight feeling of pity for the man who has no knowledge of chess.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
"Memory is the mother of all wisdom." -- Aeschylus
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be exalted." -- Jesus Christ
"The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom." -- Arthur Schopenhauer
"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned." -- Buddha
“When the chess game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box.”
– Irish Saying
"Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul." -- Democritus
"Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people." -- Arthur Schopenhauer
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." -- Buddha
"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on." -- Winston Churchill
"For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?" -- Jesus Christ
"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy." -- Rabindranath Tagore
"And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." -- Jesus Christ
Black resigns.
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.
"The words of truth are simple." -- Aeschylus
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." -- Arthur Schopenhauer
"It is only after our basic needs for food and shelter have been met that we can hope to enjoy the luxury of theoretical speculations." -- Aristotle.
"The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows." -- Buddha
“A great man quotes bravely, and will not draw on his invention when his memory serves him with a word as good. What he quotes, he fills with his own voice and humour, and the whole cyclopedia of his table-talk is presently believed to be his own.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I quote another man’s saying; unluckily, that other withdraws himself in the same way, and quotes me.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Young people of high school age can actually feel themselves changing. Progress is almost tangible. It’s exciting. It stimulates more progress. Nevertheless, growth is not constant and smooth. Erik Erikson quotes an aphorism to describe the formless forming of it. “I ain’t what I ought to be. I ain’t what I’m going to be, but I’m not what I was.””
—Stella Chess (20th century)
“Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.”
—Anonymous. Late 19th century ballad.
“Are sailors, frequenters of fiddlers’ greens, without vices? No; but less often than with landsmen do their vices, so called, partake of crookedness of heart, seeming less to proceed from viciousness than exuberance of vitality after long constraint: frank manifestations in accordance with natural law.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“It’s a great huge game of chess that’s being played—all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know. Oh, what fun it is! How I wish I was one of them! I wouldn’t mind being a Pawn, if only I might join—though of course I should like to be a Queen, best.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“I do wish you’d stop reading my mind.... It’s so frightfully disconcerting—like being followed up one’s trousers.”
—Abraham Polonsky, U.S. screenwriter, Frank Butler, and Helen Deutsch. Mitchell Leisen. Col. Deniston (Ray Milland)
The Ill-Married
If worth, were not a thing more rare
Than beauty in this planet fair,
There would be then less need of care
About the contracts Hymen closes.
But beauty often is the bait
To love that only ends in hate;
And many hence repent too late
Of wedding thorns from wooing roses.
My tale makes one of these poor fellows,
Who sought relief from marriage vows,
Send back again his tedious spouse,
Contentious, covetous, and jealous,
With nothing pleased or satisfied,
This restless, comfort-killing bride
Some fault in every one descried.
Her good man went to bed too soon,
Or lay in bed till almost noon.
Too cold, too hot, – too black, too white, –
Were on her tongue from morn till night.
The servants mad and madder grew;
The husband knew not what to do.
"Twas, "Dear, you never think or care;"
And, "Dear, that price we cannot bear;"
And, "Dear, you never stay at home;"
And, "Dear, I wish you would just come;"
Till, finally, such ceaseless dearing
On her husband's patience wearing,
Back to her sire's he sent his wife,
To taste the sweets of country life,
To dance at will the country jigs,
And feed the turkeys, geese, and pigs.
In course of time, he hoped his bride
Might have her temper mollified;
Which hope he duly put to test.
His wife recalled, said he,
"How went with you your rural rest,
From vexing cares and fashions free?
Its peace and quiet did you gain, –
Its innocence without a stain?"
"Enough of all," said she; "but then
To see those idle, worthless men
Neglect the flocks, it gave me pain.
I told them, plainly, what I thought,
And thus their hatred quickly bought;
For which I do not care – not I."
"Ah, madam," did her spouse reply,
"If still your temper's so morose,
And tongue so virulent, that those
Who only see you morn and night
Are quite grown weary of the sight,
What, then, must be your servants' case,
Who needs must see you face to face,
Throughout the day?
And what must be the harder lot
Of him, I pray,
Whose days and nights
With you must be by marriage rights?
Return you to your father's cot.
If I recall you in my life,
Or even wish for such a wife,
Let Heaven, in my hereafter, send
Two such, to tease me without end!"
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
"Zeitnot" is German for "time pressure."
“....his countrymen, Kolisch and Steinitz, are greatly indebted for their later success to their having enjoyed early opportunities of practicing with the departed amateur whose death is also greatly deplored amongst all who knew him personally.” — Wilhelm Steinitz, regarding Karl Hamppe
The first appearance of the (John) Cochrane gambit against Petrov's defense C42 was in the year 1848 against an Indian master Mohishunder Bannerjee.
“Sorry don't get it done, Dude!” — John Wayne, Rio Bravo
“Gossip is the devil’s telephone. Best to just hang up.” — Moira Rose
"God's mercy and grace give me hope - for myself, and for our world.”
— Billy Graham
“Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness.” — Billy Graham
“Whatever you are doing in the game of life, give it all you've got.” — Norman Vincent Peale
“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.” — Ralph Marston
* Riddle-stoke-dime: https://www.briddles.com/riddles/ch...
“Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” ― Yogi Berra, 10-time World Series champion
“He examined the chess problem and set out the pieces. It was a tricky ending, involving a couple of knights.
'White to play and mate in two moves.'
Winston looked up at the portrait of Big Brother. White always mates, he thought with a sort of cloudy mysticism. Always, without exception, it is so arranged. In no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won. Did it not symbolize the eternal, unvarying triumph of Good over Evil? The huge face gazed back at him, full of calm power. White always mates.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” — Garry Kasparov
"Sometimes in life, and in chess, you must take one step back to take two steps forward." — IM Levy Rozman, GothamChess
So much, much, much better to be an incurable optimist than deceitful and untrustworthy.
Steinitz's Theory
1. At the beginning of the game, Black and White are equal.
2. The game will stay equal with correct play on both sides.
3. You can only win by your opponent's mistake.
4. Any attack launched in an equal position will not succeed, and the attacker will suffer.
5. You should not attack until an advantage is obtained.
6. When equal, do not seek to attack, but instead, try to secure an advantage.
7. Once you have an advantage, attack or you will lose it.
The Boy and the Schoolmaster
Wise counsel is not always wise,
As this my tale exemplifies.
A boy, that frolicked on the banks of Seine,
Fell in, and would have found a watery grave,
Had not that hand that plants never in vain
A willow planted there, his life to save.
While hanging by its branches as he might,
A certain sage preceptor came in sight;
To whom the urchin cried, "Save, or I'm drowned!"
The master, turning gravely at the sound,
Thought proper for a while to stand aloof,
And give the boy some seasonable reproof.
"You little wretch! this comes of foolish playing,
Commands and precepts disobeying.
A naughty rogue, no doubt, you are,
Who thus requite your parents" care.
Alas! their lot I pity much,
Whom fate condemns to watch over such."
This having coolly said, and more,
He pulled the drowning lad ashore.
This story hits more marks than you suppose.
All critics, pedants, men of endless prose, –
Three sorts, so richly blessed with progeny,
The house is blessed that does not lodge any, –
May in it see themselves from head to toes.
No matter what the task,
Their precious tongues must teach;
Their help in need you ask,
You first must hear them preach.
Drive sober or get pulled over.
“For surely of all the drugs in the world, chess must be the most permanently pleasurable.” — Assiac
“No one has ever won a game of chess by taking only forward moves (what about Scholar's Mate?). Sometimes you have to move backwards in order to be able to take better steps forward. That is life.” – Anonymous
“You can only get good at chess if you love the game.” ― Bobby Fischer
"As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight." — The Revenant
“I’ve come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.” – Marcel Duchamp
“Chess is an infinitely complex game, which one can play in infinitely numerous & varied ways.” – Vladimir Kramnik
Kibitzing
