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Quotations 1 (new) ...
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For more quotations see "Quotes" pages 2, 3 and 4
Quotes from 3Cs' coaches
"Don't play with your heart, play with your brain". Steve Rigby
"Every pawn move creates a weakness" Phil Adams
“A game with counter-chances adequately cancels out the advantage of the first move.”
GM, author, trainer and former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik (1911-1995).
“Get yourself a pet. Every aspiring player should have at least one opening variation which they adore and which they are willing to suffer for.”
GM and chess author Joe Gallagher
“To improve at chess you should in the first instance study the endgame.”
José Raúl Capablanca,
World Chess Champion 1921-27
“Your ideas may be right, but the move order could be wrong.”
GM, author and trainer Jacob Aagaard
“In the endgame an active rook and a pawn often outweigh bishop and knight.”
GM and author Michael Stean
“In a fast time control players should seek to attack rather than defend. Having an attack adds value to your position, as your opponent will either spend extra time defending or will fail to see strong defensive moves and lose on the board.”
GM, author and blitz expert Maxim Dlugy
“Generally speaking, the side with a weaker king should always seek an exchange of queens, as this drastically decreases the chances of an attack on his own king.”
GM, blogger and author Alex Colović
"In a fast time control players should seek to attack rather than defend. Having an attack adds value to your position, as your opponent will either spend extra time defending or will fail to see strong defensive moves and lose on the board.”
GM, author and blitz expert Maxim Dlugy.
“The king, which during the opening and middlegame stage is often a burden because it has to be defended, becomes in the endgame a very important and aggressive piece, and the beginner should realize this, and utilize his king as much as possible.”
José Raúl Capablanca, World Chess Champion 1921-7
“Chess is a difficult game, and everything is possible. We all make mistakes from time to time, some of which result from concentration loss and a lack of focus. So our main task is to minimize them.”
GM Robert Hovhannisyan
“A passed pawn increases in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes.”
José Raúl Capablanca, World Champion 1921-7
“Mastering the methods of gambit play is an important stage in the development of a chessplayer.”
GM and author Evgeny Sveshnikov
“When in doubt, keep the pieces on!”
GM Glenn Flear
“Forcing chess and long theoretical lines always favour the weaker player, because a weaker player is more prone to error in general, but will make fewer errors if he is forced to play ‘only’ moves or repeat opening moves that are proven to be good by computer analysis.”
IM and trainer Erik Kislik
“We need to find quality openings that suit our style, our tactical and strategic skills and the amount of time we have available.”
GM, author and trainer Matthias Wahls
“You have to enjoy chess while playing, and only then will there be a result. That is to say, you need to enjoy the game, even if you lose.”
19-year-old WGM Meruert Kamalidenova
“A solid opening repertoire fosters self-confidence.”
GM and former candidate Lajos Portisch
“The Ruy Lopez gives White a more lasting initiative than any other opening resulting from 1 e4 e5”.
Veteran chess journalist, author and opening theoretician Leonard Barden
“Winning a game of chess is all about creating problems for our opponent.”
GM and author Matthias Wahls
“We need a habit of asking only one question before we touch a piece: What will my opponent do”
Nick Vasquez MD at his blog Chess in Small Doses https://nickvasquezmd.substack.com/p/simpler-chess-take-a-time-out “
“When playing weaker players, motivation is a big problem for the stronger player. There is nothing to prove and there is pressure to win because that would be the ‘normal’ thing to happen. Compare that to the maximum motivation of the weaker player, who still knows how to play some chess, and you have the stronger player drop their level while the weaker player raises his, thus increasing his chances.
” GM Alexander Colovi
“Don’t focus on the rating - focus on good chess. If you play well enough, the rating will chase your strength and go up.”
GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan
A chess position is like an iceberg. The surface conceals an enormous wealth of possibilities.”
Legendary trainer IM Mark Dvoretsky
“You cannot win games only by following Steinitz's or Nimzowitsch's principles, but you will certainly lose games if you don't know these principles!”
GM, trainer and author Lars Bo Hansen
“If you don’t have a clear head at the crucial moment, all your previous exertions can be reduced to nothing.”
GM Max Euwe, World Champion, 1935-37
“Do not collect weapons or practise with weapons beyond what is useful.’
Miyamoto Musashi (legendary Japanese philosopher, strategist and swordsman – for “weapons”, think “chess openings")
“Here’s the key: your games are decided by big mistakes, not small advantages nursed over 60+ moves.”
GM Noel Studer on why amateur players should not study openings like the grandmasters do.
“In positions with opposite-coloured bishop, activity is always more important than the number of pawns.”
GM and author Valeri Beim
“Better understanding doesn’t directly transfer to better decision-making at the board. The latter requires practice of decision-making and that type of work is the actual calculation of variations.“
GM Alexander Colovic“
“You should analyse your games on your own first, and only then check it with an engine. This way you'll get the maximum benefit from analysis of your games.”
GM, author and coach Gregory Serpe
"The result of a game depends primarily on our ability to analyse variations.”
GM, author and coach Valeri Beim
“These days many chess-players believe the best way to improve their game is to sit in front of the computer and learn never-ending theoretical opening lines, but they forget that a chess game is normally defined by events not in the opening but nearer its conclusion, as the result of a long fight in the late middlegame or endgame.”
GM and author Valeri Beim
“To improve at chess you should in the first instance study the endgame.”
José Raúl Capablanca, World Chess Champion 1921-1927.
“People who want to improve should take their defeats as lessons, and endeavour to learn what to avoid in the future. You must also have the courage of your convictions. If you think your move is good, make it.”
José Raúl Capablanca, World Chess Champion 1921-7.
“Playing White in the Sicilian is like riding a bicycle. You have to keep moving forward, otherwise you fall off.”
Nigel Short, English Grandmaster
“When playing weaker players, motivation is a big problem for the stronger player. There is nothing to prove and there is pressure to win because that would be the ‘normal’ thing to happen. Compare that to the maximum motivation of the weaker player, who still knows how to play some chess, and you have the stronger player drop their level while the weaker player raises his, thus increasing his chances.”
GM Alexander Colovic
The great Danish GM and world championship candidate Bent Larsen wrote:
"If you study modern opening theory you may well conclude that if Black does not want to have to defend carefully during the first part of the game he must give White something: more space, heathier pawn structure, the bishop pair - or simply a pawn!"
... But Larsen also wrote:
"If you are a good defensive player, don't pay anything for the initiative! Your opponent will probably overreach himself if you defend wall for a couple of hours."
In order to score against higher rated opponents, you need to play against them in basically the same way you’d play against an opponent of your level or lower, and have the same confidence in your ability to win.”
IM Max Gedajlovic
"I get the feeling that having certain computer knowledge in specific positions is possibly worse than not having any. Often (also for me, but much more often for my opponents) you get into a position and your opponent makes a move that the computer at home has not specified. You then know that your opponent's move is usually not good, but if it is not immediately clear why it is not good, it can be very difficult or even impossible to find the rebuttal at the board. Weak moves of this kind according to the computer can suddenly get you into big trouble because you obviously cannot use a computer at the board .
Magnus Carlsen (Former World Champion)
“The game is never over until your opponent resigns”.
(The famous US grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky (1911-1992), noted for his strong fighting spirit and tenacity.)
“I believe it is very important not to over-dramatize the concept of “mistake”. We make mistakes, and if we make a habit of correcting them, without feeling too bad about them, that will improve anyone’s life.”
(GM, author and trainer Tiger Hillarp Persson.
“Look wide before you look deep!”
Wise advice on choosing ‘candidate moves’ from the famous Australian IM, author and trainer Cecil Purdy (1906-79)”
"Plans that look advantageous from the viewpoint of the general laws of strategy sometimes meet with unexpected refutations based on the tactical peculiarities of the position.”
GM Efim Geller (1825-1998), one of the strongest players never to win the world championship.
"If you do not check what your opponent is doing, you will end up complaining about bad luck after every game."
Former World Championship challenger, GM Viktor Korchnoi
“It is not bad to move quickly, but it is bad to move hastily.”
GM José Raúl Capablanca, World Chess Champion 1921-7
"I play honestly and I play to win. If I lose, I take my medicine."
GM Robert James Fischer,
World Chess Champion 1972-5
“The goal is to maximize your winning percentage, not to preserve your fragile ego by losing as rarely as possible.”
US veteran Frederick Rhine
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