101 Famous Chess Quotes

Looking for some Famous Chess Quotes? Then you’re in the right place.

Chess players and enthusiasts have often expressed their thoughts and feelings about the game in memorable and inspiring quotes. Here are 101 famous chess quotes that you can use to impress your friends, motivate yourself or simply enjoy the beauty and wisdom of chess.

Chess and Life

• “Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.” – Blaise Pascal
• “In life, as in chess, forethought wins.” – Charles Buxton
• “Life is like a game of chess. To win you have 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.” – Allan Rufus
• “Chess is life in miniature. Chess is a struggle, chess battles.” – Garry Kasparov
• “Chess is everything: art, science, and sport.” – Anatoly Karpov
• “Chess is a beautiful mistress.” – Larsen Bent
• “Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders.” – Savielly Tartakower
• “Chess is a war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind.” – Bobby Fischer
• “Chess is not for timid souls.” – Wilhelm Steinitz
• “Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe.” – Indian proverb

Chess and Strategy

• “When you see a good move, look for a better one.” – Emanuel Lasker
• “The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.” – Savielly Tartakower
• “The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move.” – David Bronstein
• “One doesn’t have to play well, it’s enough to play better than your opponent.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
• “It is not a move, even the best move, that you must seek, but a realizable plan.” – Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
• “The hardest game to win is a won game.” – Emanuel Lasker
• “A bad plan is better than none at all.” – Frank Marshall
• “The threat is stronger than the execution.” – Aaron Nimzowitsch
• “To play for a draw, at any rate with white, is to some degree a crime against chess.” – Mikhail Tal
• “Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.” – Rudolf Spielmann

Chess and Psychology

• “I don’t believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.” – Bobby Fischer
• “Mistrust is the most necessary characteristic of the chess player.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
• “No chess grandmaster is normal; they only differ in the extent of their madness.” – Viktor Korchnoi
• “The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.” – Savielly Tartakower
• “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.” – Jose Capablanca
• “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
• “A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it.” – Wilhelm Steinitz
• “The pin is mightier than the sword.” – Fred Reinfeld
• “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
• “When one of us first plays chess, he is like a man who has already caught a dose of microbes…Such a man walks along the street, and he does not yet know that he is ill. He is healthy, he feels fine, but the microbes are doing their work.” – Mikhail Tal

Chess and Art

• “I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.” – Marcel Duchamp
• “He who takes the queen’s knight’s pawn will sleep in the streets” – Anonymous (on 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nxe5 dxe5 4.Qh5)
• “A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror.” – Wilhelm Steinitz
• “Chess is a beautiful game, and there are many good reasons to play it. But one of the most important is that it teaches you to be creative.” – Judit Polgar
• “Chess is a form of intellectual and artistic creation.” – Vladimir Kramnik
• “Chess is a matter of delicate judgment, knowing when to punch and how to duck.” – Bobby Fischer
• “Chess is a game that simulates the universe. It has the beauty of art and the precision of mathematics.” – Fernando Arrabal
• “Chess is a poem in which the pieces are the words.” – Carlos Fuentes
• “Chess is like music. You don’t need to understand it to enjoy it.” – Marcel Duchamp
• “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

Chess and Humor

• “I never read a chess book until I was already a master.” – Reuben Fine
• “The only thing chess players have in common is chess.” – Lodewijk Prins
• “In chess, bigamy is acceptable but monarchy is absolute.” – Garry Kasparov
• “Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf.” – Cecil Purdy
• “A bad day of chess is better than any good day at work.” – Anonymous
• “There should be as many world champions as there are players, because every chess player lives in his own world.” – Elliott Winslow
• “First-class players lose to second-class players because second-class players sometimes play a first-class game.” – Siegbert Tarrasch
• “In chess, as in life, a man is his own most dangerous opponent.” – Vassily Smyslov
• “I don’t want to play with him. He plays with the strength of two grandmasters!” – Anonymous (on Mikhail Tal)
• “I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art – and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.” – Marcel Duchamp

Chess and Wisdom

• “A book cannot by itself teach how to play. It can only serve as a guide, and the rest must be learned by experience.” – Jose Capablanca
• “In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else. For whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.” – Jose Capablanca
• “One of the principal requisites of good chess is the ability to treat both middle and end game equally well.” – Aron Nimzowitsch
• “After the world war, chess and the revival of chess tournaments have made a bridge for intercourse between erstwhile hostile nations and have thus done their part towards international reconciliation more quickly than science or art could do.” – Richard Reti
• “You can only get good at chess if you love the game.” – Bobby Fischer
• “Above all else, before playing in competitions a player must have regard to his health, for if he is suffering from ill-health he cannot hope for success. In this connection the best of all tonics is 0 days in the fresh air, in the country.” – Mikhail Botvinnik
• “As proved by evidence, [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
• “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
• “Of course, analysis can sometimes give more accurate results than intuition but usually it’s just a lot of work. I normally do what my intuition tells me to do. Most of the time spent thinking is just to double-check.” – Magnus Carlsen
• “Never play to win a pawn while your development is yet unfinished.” – Aron Nimzowitsch

Chess and Beauty

• “The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.” – Aaron Nimzowitsch
• “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

• “The beauty of chess lies not only in its logical structure but also in its artistic and creative aspects. Chess is a game that can express emotions, moods, passions and fantasies.” – Vladimir Kramnik
• “The beauty of chess is that there are many different ways to play it. There are many different styles, many different personalities. Some people like to attack, some people like to defend, some people like to create problems for their opponents, some people like to solve problems. Chess is a game that reflects your personality.” – Judit Polgar
• “The beauty of chess is that you don’t have to be a genius to enjoy it. You can appreciate the game at any level, from beginner to grandmaster. Chess is a game that anyone can play and anyone can love.” – Magnus Carlsen
• “The beauty of chess is that it can be whatever you want it to be. It can be a sport, a hobby, a profession, a science, an art, a social activity, a mental exercise or a spiritual experience.” – Garry Kasparov
• “The beauty of chess is that no two games are ever the same. Every game is a new challenge, a new puzzle, a new adventure. Chess is a game that never gets old.” – Vishy Anand
• “The beauty of chess is that it teaches you to think for yourself. You have to make your own decisions, take responsibility for your actions and learn from your mistakes. Chess is a game that helps you grow as a person.” – Hikaru Nakamura
• “The beauty of chess is that it connects people from all over the world. You can play with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Chess is a game that transcends borders, cultures and languages.” – Hou Yifan
• “The beauty of chess is that it stimulates both sides of the brain. You have to use logic and calculation as well as intuition and imagination. Chess is a game that balances reason and creativity.” – Levon Aronian
• “The beauty of chess is that it has infinite possibilities. There are more possible chess games than atoms in the universe. Chess is a game that never stops surprising you.” – Fabiano Caruana
• “The beauty of chess is that it is simple and complex at the same time. The rules are easy to learn but the strategy is deep and subtle. Chess is a game that anyone can play but no one can master.” – Wesley So

Conclusion on 101 Famous Chess Quotes

Chess is more than just a game. It is a source of inspiration, wisdom and joy for many people around the world. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, a casual player or a professional, a young or an old, you can always find something new and exciting in chess. Chess is a game that enriches your mind and your life.

We hope you enjoyed reading these 101 famous chess quotes and learned something from them. If you have any favorite chess quotes that we missed, feel free to share them in the comments below.

Sources:
https://www.chessjournal.com/chess-quotes/ : https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-quotes : https://www.sportsfeelgoodstories.com/best-chess-quotes-of-all-time/ : https://chesstier.com/chess-quotes/ : https://chessentials.com/best-chess-quotes/