Chess Quotes: Wisdom from the Board

"I learned that fighting on the chess board could also have an impact on the political climate in the country"

"The chess player who develops the ability to play two dozen boards at a time will benefit from learning to compress his or her analysis into less time"

Marilyn vos Savant, Author

"I failed to make the chess team because of my height"

Woody Allen, Director

"I feel as if I were a piece in a game of chess, when my opponent says of it: That piece cannot be moved"

Søren Kierkegaard, Philosopher

"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing"

Emo Philips, Comedian

"Women, by their nature, are not exceptional chess players: they are not great fighters"

Garry Kasparov, Celebrity

"Chess is mental torture"

Garry Kasparov, Celebrity

"It's quite difficult for me to imagine my life without chess"

Garry Kasparov, Celebrity

"I may play some exhibition games so I don't want to quit the game of chess completely. I just decided and it's a firm decision not to play competitive chess anymore"

Garry Kasparov, Celebrity

"Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out til too late that he's been playing with two queens all along"

Terry Pratchett, Author

"Kids love games and chess is a game where you have to sit down and concentrate and it just helps in every way"

Magnus Carlsen

"All I expect are wins and to get pleasure from the game. And if someone thinks something about me, if someone's dissatisfied with something... that's not my headache. I hope someday I'll become World Champion - and I'll make all these people happy. But even if for some reason that doesn't happen it won't stop me getting pleasure from chess. I'm sure of that"

Magnus Carlsen

"I don't think there is a thing like overconfidence in chess. It's always better to be too confident than too reluctant"

Magnus Carlsen

"Right now I'm really happy with how things are going with my chess career, so I'm not thinking of doing anything else"

Magnus Carlsen

"I honestly don't read that much. Obviously I read chess books - in terms of favorites, Kasparov's 'My Great Predecessors' is pretty good"

Magnus Carlsen

"I started by just sitting by the chessboard exploring things. I didn't even have books at first, and I just played by myself. I learnt a lot from that, and I feel that it is a big reason why I now have a good intuitive understanding of chess"

Magnus Carlsen

"Once you're a chess player, you spend a lot of time thinking about the game and you can't get it completely out of your head"

Magnus Carlsen

"I've never been much of a computer guy at least in terms of playing with computers. Actually until I was about 11 I didn't use a computer for preparing for games at all. I was playing a bit online, was using the chess club mainly. Now, obviously, the computer is an important tool for me preparing for my games"

Magnus Carlsen

"My father, a fine chess player himself, has been a massive influence throughout my life"

Magnus Carlsen

"I was lucky enough to attend schools where they were understanding about when I needed to go abroad to play chess. Of course, socially it is important to go to school and interact with people your own age"

Magnus Carlsen

"Chess only appeals to quite a small minority. It does not have the cachet of a mainstream popular sport"

Magnus Carlsen

"Maybe if I didn't have the talent in chess I'd find the talent in something else. The only thing I know is that I have talent in chess, and I'm satisfied with that"

Magnus Carlsen

"I get more upset at losing at other things than chess. I always get upset when I lose at Monopoly"

Magnus Carlsen

"It's easy for me to get along with chess players. Even though we are all very different, we have chess in common"

Magnus Carlsen

"I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up"

Magnus Carlsen

"One of the things that first attracted me to chess is that it brings you into contact with intelligent, civilized people - men of the stature of Garry Kasparov, the former world champion, who was my part-time coach"

Magnus Carlsen

"The America's Cup is like a chess game on water, with boats as the pieces and tactics as the moves"

Dennis Conner, Athlete

"I think that by and large chess players have been very kind. Like I said there have been a few incidents, but they certainly didn't serve to bring me down any"

Maurice Ashley, Celebrity

"Chess is the gymnasium of the mind"

Adolf Anderssen, Celebrity

"Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of having an evil thought during the game"

Wilhelm Steinitz, Celebrity

"Chess is not for timid souls"

Wilhelm Steinitz, Celebrity

"Leonard Chess passed, and that was the end of the Chess label for that time"

Solomon Burke, Musician

"Life's too short for chess"

Henry James Byron, Dramatist

"Life's to short for chess"

Henry James Byron, Dramatist

"My dad sacrificed many things in life for me. He abandoned a very promising and lucrative career of an army officer just so that he could continue helping me with my chess and accompanying me to tournaments"

Alexandra Kosteniuk, Celebrity

"I play chess badly and I've been beaten by my 10-year old son"

John Turturro, Actor

"Chess is intellectual gymnastics"

Wilhelm Steinitz, Celebrity

"The development of beauty in chess never depends on you alone. No matter how much imagination and creativity you invest, you still do not create beauty. Your opponent must react at the same highest level"

Vladimir Kramnik, Celebrity

"But it's also because of something personal. My mother and father met while playing chess, so I've always had a fondness for the game. If it weren't for chess, I might not be here"

Dorothy Dunnett, Novelist

"Ensemble is hard to do. It's like 3-D chess"

Eric Bogosian, Actor

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