Chess :: Maxims and Software Tools

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• Linux bash script for random chess quote(s): https://git.io/chess-quote supports multiple quotes per call and regular expression for filtration.

• Linux bash script to get and browse latest games from players at Lichess.org: https://git.io/lich-game supports both rated and casual games.

Chess insights conveyed by quotes and maxims

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• A bad plan is better than none at all.
• A beginner should play neither Queen's Gambit nor French Defense, but instead, open games.
• A bold opening can unnerve even the most steely opponent.
• A champion is afraid of losing, everyone else is afraid of winning.
• A change in the character of the play will influence your psychological mood.
• A chess player is a frivolous man who cares more about attaining his goal than the goal in itself.
• A clever player not only wins, but excels at winning with ease.
• A combination is a forced variation with a sacrifice.
• A combination seeks to refute false values which leads to an unexpected reassessment.
• A defeatist attitude inevitably leads to disaster.
• A defense is skillful if your opponent does not know what to attack.
• A draw can be obtained by three-fold repetition, but also by one-bad move.
• A draw can be obtained not only by repeating moves, but also by one weak move.
• A draw in theory just means equal in battle, so fight on!
• A gambit opening brings reputation of being a dashing player at the cost of losing.
• A good plan incorporates many little plans.
• A good player creates his own luck.
• A good sacrifice may not be necessarily sound but should leave your opponent dazed and confused.
• A great chess player is not a great man, for he leaves the world as he found it.
• A great chess player usually has a very good memory.
• A knight and queen complement each other, and often are superior to a bishop and queen.
• A knight entrenched in enemy territory is worth a rook.
• A knight on the rim is dim.
• A knight on the rim is grim.
• A man who will take back a chess move will pick a pocket.
• A man's wealth, ease, leisure, children, books, which should help him win, often checkmate him.
• A master knows when to panic.
• A master looks at every move he would like to make, especially the impossible ones.
• A master must envisage himself as a cross between an ascetic monk and a beast of prey.
• A master often considers fewer alternatives than an amateur, this is understanding.
• A master senses the critical moments in a game.
• A modest little move may embarrass your opponent more than the biggest threat.
• A passed pawn increases in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes.
• A passion for sacrifices is part of a chess player's nature.
• A pawn unprotected by another pawn is on the brink of death.
• A pawn, exposed to attack and difficult to defend, is weak.
• A pawn, separated from his fellows, will seldom make a fortune.
• A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom make a fortune.
• A pinned piece is not for the taking.
• A plan is made for only a few moves, not for the whole game.
• A plan is the sum of strategic operations executed following ideas arising from positional demands.
• A player constantly improves his understanding of chess with experience.
• A queen's sacrifice always rejoices the heart.
• A rook and queen will always checkmate a naked king.
• A rook in front of a passed pawn has some explaining to do.
• A rook on the seventh rank is sufficient compensation for a pawn.
• A sacrifice is best refuted by accepting it.
• A singular attack by a solo piece demonstrates a plan to die.
• A surprised chess player is half beaten.
• A sustained initiative is worth some material.
• A vivid memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will are mandatory.
• A well-played game should practically be decided during the middlegame.
• A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror.
• A wing attack is best met by a counterattack in the center.
• Absolutely no takebacks: take your lumps, face up to consequences.
• Activating the worst-placed piece is often the most reliable way of improvement.
• After 1. d4 there are more opportunities for richer play.
• After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame, but then, the moment of truth has arrived.
• After a mistake, calm yourself and reassess the position.
• Age brings wisdom to some men, and to others chess.
• Aggression is the key: one has to be merciless.
• All conceptions in the game of chess have a geometrical basis.
• All masters have on occasion played a magnificent game, only to lose by a stupid mistake.
• All that matters on the chessboard is good moves.
• Always check, for it could be mate.
• Always put the rook behind the pawn, except when it is incorrect to do so.
• Always study your opponent's last move.
• An attack is skillful if your opponent does not know what to defend.
• An emotional stake in the game will make you work harder, and remember more.
• An hour's history of two minds is well told in a game of chess.
• An inaccurate move in the endgame is luxury which costs a victory.
• An innovation does not need to be ingenious, but it must be worked out in great detail.
• An isolated pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard.
• An ounce of common sense can outweigh a ton of variations.
• Analysis of the most varied positions builds up a player's knowledge and intuition.
• Analysis, together with a complete concentration, forms a chess player.
• Analyze your games for mistakes until you no longer make them.
• Anchor at least one pawn in the center and give it solid support.
• Apart from blunders, there is nothing more ruinous than routine mechanical development.
• Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.
• Appear where you are not expected.
• Approaching victory, do not rush, spend extra time on your important decision.
• As a relaxation from the severe pursuits of life, chess deserves high commendation.
• As black, play to equalize.
• As for a marathon runner, perseverance and stamina are necessary for a chess player.
• As in a first-rate short story, the plot and counter-plot should lead up to a striking finale.
• As in life, mastery is attained only if you deal with your mistakes and defeats.
• As in life, there are no take-backs: so think before you move.
• As in life, today's bliss may be tomorrow's poison.
• As long as an opening is reputed to be weak it can be played.
• Assume your opponent will play like a machine, but if he falters, punish him.
• Attack the base of a pawn chain.
• Attack their weaknesses, and emerge to their surprise.
• Attack when you have the superior game, or else: lose your advantage.
• Attack where the enemy is unprepared.
• Attackers may regret bad moves, but it is worse to forever regret a passed opportunity.
• Attacking two weaknesses simultaneously will wear out the defense.
• Avoid checking your opponent, unless it improves your attack.
• Avoid fighting unless the position is crucial.
• Avoid moving the same piece twice in the opening.
• Avoid piece exchanges when you control more squares.
• Avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.
• Avoidance of mistakes is the beginning, as it is the end, of mastery in chess.
• Be extremely subtle, to the point of formlessness.
• Be patient in times of crisis.
• Be patient while calculating.
• Be quick, but do not hurry without full development.
• Be the chess player, not the chess piece.
• Be the harshest critic of your own wins.
• Be well enough prepared so that preparation does not play a role.
• Be where your enemy is not.
• Bear in mind the outlines of a possible future ending.
• Begin with either e4 or d4, thus releasing two pieces.
• Best by test: 1. e4.
• Black should play to win instead of just steering for equality.
• Blitz chess kills your ideas.
• Blitz chess rots the brain just as surely as alcohol.
• Blunders are ever present on the board, just waiting to be made.
• Boredom leads to complacency and mistakes.
• Botvinnik-Kasparov rule for mastery: Thoroughly analyze your own games.
• Break a bind to free your pieces, even if it costs a pawn.
• By playing chess, we may learn: first, Foresight; second, Circumspection; third, Caution.
• By trying to win at all costs, expect to lose from a riposte.
• Calculate while waiting for your opponent to move.
• Capture of your opponent's King is the ultimate, but not the first, object of the game.
• Castle because you must or because you want to, never just because you can.
• Castle early and often.
• Centralize your pieces to give them power.
• Chance is practically eliminated in chess, when played between masters.
• Chess appeals to those who seek that success which life has denied them.
• Chess can be a matter of vanity.
• Chess demands total concentration.
• Chess has been elevated into an art form, but it is simply human nature: a fight.
• Chess has trailed only the military and pornography in exploiting new technology.
• Chess is 36% percent psychology.
• Chess is 99% tactics.
• Chess is a battle between your aversion to thinking and your aversion to losing.
• Chess is a cold bath for the mind.
• Chess is a game which reflects most honor on human wit.
• Chess is a matter of delicate judgement: know when to punch and how to duck.
• Chess is a meritocracy.
• Chess is a part of culture, thus if a culture is declining then chess will also decline.
• Chess is a rare art where composition takes place simultaneously with performance.
• Chess is a sport, a violent sport.
• Chess is a test of wills.
• Chess is an art form where creativity prevails over other factors.
• Chess is an infinitely complex game which one can play in infinitely numerous ways.
• Chess is difficult: it demands slavery work, zealous research, and serious reflection.
• Chess is everything: art, science, and sport.
• Chess is life, and every game is a new life.
• Chess is like alcohol or a drug: I have to control it, or it could overwhelm me.
• Chess is like war on a board.
• Chess is meditation on combinatorics and geometric proof.
• Chess is mental torture.
• Chess is not 99% tactics, but tactics will take up 99% of your time.
• Chess is not a game of speed, it is a game of speech through actions.
• Chess is not for the faint-hearted, it can absorb a person entirely.
• Chess is not for the timid.
• Chess is not relaxing, for it is stressful even if you win.
• Chess is one long regret.
• Chess is played with the mind and not with the hands!
• Chess is psychologically brutal.
• Chess is really 99% calculation.
• Chess is refined and improved by experience.
• Chess is ruthless: you have to be prepared to kill people.
• Chess is so beautiful, one can waste an entire lifetime.
• Chess is so rich in meaning that it can be both tragedy and comedy.
• Chess is something clever for fools to waste their time.
• Chess is the art of analysis.
• Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic.
• Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.
• Chess is the only game greater than its players.
• Chess is the struggle against error.
• Chess is the triumph of the intellect over lack of imagination.
• Chess levels rank: title, wealth, politics, religion -- all are forgotten across the board.
• Chess makes man wiser and clear-sighted.
• Chess mastery essentially consists of analyzing chess positions accurately.
• Chess must be the most permanently pleasurable drug in the world.
• Chess pieces are an alphabet shaping thoughts, expressing their beauty abstractly like a poem.
• Chess poses an inexact problem, similar to those which must be solved in everyday life.
• Chess probably originated as a symbolic representation of a war game between two kingdoms.
• Chess problems: invention, conciseness, complexity, and splendid insincerity.
• Chess shackles the mind such that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.
• Chess strength in general and chess strength in a specific match are not same thing.
• Chess teaches you to sit calmly and to think about a good idea and to create better ones.
• Chess trains you to think objectively when you are in trouble.
• Chess would be laughable, were it not so serious.
• Chess, unlike life, has rules.
• Child prodigies have been known in only: mathematics, music, and chess.
• Choose a battlefield that gives you the best chance of success.
• Choose your move carefully, in chess as in life.
• Combinations are the poetry of the game, they are to chess what melody is to music.
• Combinations with a queen sacrifice are among the most striking and memorable.
• Complicated tactical play favors the side with sounder position.
• Computer chess destroys the beauty and romance of chess, for the game can be calculated.
• Concentrate on forcing moves.
• Concentrate on material gains.
• Confidence is very important, even pretending to be confident.
• Conform to their tactics until you can act upon a favorable opportunity.
• Connect your rooks as soon as you can.
• Continue using a certain opening, if the consequences suit your style.
• Control the initial excitement you feel when you see something that looks good.
• Control your feelings, be as cold as a machine.
• Controlling more than half of the squares confers a distinct advantage.
• Courage or cowardice depends on circumstances; strength or weakness on dispositions.
• Daring ideas, like advancing pawns, may be beaten, but they start a winning game.
• Decide on candidate moves and look at them each in turn.
• Deeply study endgames for they rely on technique rather than the imagination.
• Depending on intuition is a losing proposition.
• Develop a new piece with each move in the opening.
• Develop knights before bishops.
• Develop, before your pawns challenge opposing pawns.
• Devour the games of the masters.
• Disciplined thinking will improve your concentration.
• Discovered check is the dive-bomber of the chessboard.
• Disturbance in the camp indicates authority is weak.
• Do not allow your opponent to distract you.
• Do not attack unless you have superior position.
• Do not be afraid of losing, be afraid of playing a game and not learning something.
• Do not be intimidated by higher ratings.
• Do not bring out your queen too early.
• Do not chase pawns at the expense of development.
• Do not fall in love with the endgame to the exclusion of entire games.
• Do not indulge in chess to the detriment of more serious avocations.
• Do not let little details distract you from the bigger picture.
• Do not move pawns in front of your castled king.
• Do not sacrifice unless something can be gained.
• Don't over think routine moves.
• Double-check your analysis.
• Doubled immobile pawns are a weakness, but they offer half-open files for rooks.
• Drawing conclusions about your weaknesses can provide a great stimulus to further growth.
• During a game a player lives on his nerves, and at the same time he must be perfectly composed.
• During unforced good time, anticipate how events will develop, and take the necessary measures.
• Early queen moves are disastrous because she is susceptible to panic attacks.
• Endgames should be studied and mastered unto themselves.
• Epic games are valuable, not for their moves, but for their manner of thinking.
• Errors are caused by time pressure, discomfort, tension, distractions, and excessive caution.
• Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.
• Even the best experience severe disappointments due to ignorance of the best lines.
• Even the laziest king flees wildly in the face of double check.
• Every battle is won before it's ever fought.
• Every chess master was once a beginner.
• Every chess player should exercise: A sound mind in a sound body.
• Every move creates a weakness.
• Every move should either interfere with your opponent's plans, or further your own plans.
• Every move should have a purpose.
• Every pawn is a potential queen.
• Every pawn move is a life decision.
• Excellence at chess is one mark of a scheming mind.
• Exchange your bad pieces, and let them remain with your opponent.
• Exchange your opponent's blockading pieces to make room for passed pawns to march.
• Exchange your opponent's defending pieces to make room for your pieces to attack.
• Exercise patience with your pawns.
• Failing to open the center at the right moment is a common error.
• Failure to castle makes your king vulnerable, and prevents the rooks from protecting each other.
• Fewer pawn islands for more life.
• Finding the opponent's dispositions will lead to victory.
• First principle of attack: do not let the opponent develop.
• First restrain, next blockade, lastly destroy.
• Fischer almost never has any bad pieces, for he exchanged them.
• Focus.
• For a game, chess is too serious, yet for seriousness, too much of a game.
• For every door the computers have closed, they have opened a new one.
• Force your opponent to reveal himself, then find his vulnerable spots.
• Fortune favors the brave.
• French Defense requires patience while defending, and waiting to counterattack.
• Games in progress are never drawn, perhaps they are equal.
• Get the knights into action before both bishops are developed.
• Given castling on opposite-sides, attack where your pawn chain is pointing.
• Given two developing alternatives, select the more aggressive threatening move.
• Given two opportunities to capture pawns, make the move towards the center.
• Good attacks win games, but good defense wins championships.
• Good offense and good defense both begin with good development.
• Good players develop a tactical sense of what is likely and what is not worth calculating.
• Good positions don't win games, good moves do.
• Great results can be achieved with small forces.
• Greatness: the ability to take a risk on a dangerous move at a critical moment.
• Greatness: trading off pawn structure, and even material, for dynamic use of the pieces.
• HAL 9000 to astronaut Frank Poole (2001): I'm sorry, Frank, I think you missed it.
• Half the calculated variations are superfluous, but no one knows in advance which half.
• Haste is never more dangerous than when you feel victory is within your grasp.
• Haste is the great enemy.
• Having a pair of bishops is often sufficient compensation for weak pawns.
• Having good strategies in playing chess is often a good indication of being focused in life.
• He who analyzes blitz is stupid.
• He who does not know tactics cannot appreciate its benefits.
• He who has a slight disadvantage plays more attentively, inventively, and boldly.
• He who wishes to attack should first tally the costs.
• Healthy pawns get boosted superiority in the endgame.
• Help your pieces so they can help you.
• Hit 'em where they ain't.
• However hopeless the situation may appear, one can always stubbornly resist.
• I beat the guy by making moves that are most unpleasant for him and his style.
• I do not believe in psychology, I believe in good moves.
• I do not play chess, I fight at chess, I aim to respond to the demands of each position.
• I knew he was a chess champion because it took him twenty minutes to pass the salt.
• I prefer to lose a really good game than to win a bad one.
• If a man delays castling, files will open up against him and rooks will dominate the seventh rank.
• If a mistake occurs, there is no need to mope, find a new plan to fit the new situation.
• If a ruler does not understand chess, how can he rule over a kingdom?
• If chess is a passion, it is a rewarding one.
• If chess is life, it is a sad one.
• If chess was a vast jungle, computers are the chainsaws of an insensitive logging company.
• If enemy forces are united, separate them.
• If ignorant of both your enemy and yourself, you certainly will perish.
• If strategy was a block of marble, then tactics are the chisel in creating works of chess art.
• If the center is blocked, you are playing the wrong opening.
• If the defender gives up the center, then every possible attack will follow.
• If the opening is unknown to you, concentrate on developing moves.
• If the opposing king is exposed, a pawn is worth sacrificing to activate your rook.
• If the position is hopeless, look for dirty tricks.
• If you accept losing, you cannot win.
• If you are short on time, keep calm, do not get flustered.
• If you cannot win, make sure you do not lose.
• If you do have a center, then you really have something to worry about.
• If you do not know what to do, find your worst piece and look for a better square.
• If you don't win, it's not a great tragedy.
• If you get overly tired from preparations, you will not have enough energy for the tournament.
• If you know something about your opponent, steer to his weaknesses.
• If you make a mistake, do not let your opponent see what you are thinking.
• If you must accept weak pawns, make sure you are compensated.
• If you reinforce everywhere, you shall be weak everywhere.
• If you sacrifice material, make sure that initiative is enduring, or has greater gain later.
• If you want to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure.
• If your king is under attack, don't worry about losing a pawn on the queen's side.
• If your opponent has a bad temper, seek to irritate him.
• If your opponent has not yet castled, seek a pretext for an offensive on each move.
• If your opponent offers you a draw, figure out why he thinks he is worse off.
• Ignore your opponent's threat whenever you can do so with impunity.
• In a convergence, contrast the numbers of attackers and defenders.
• In a gambit you give up a pawn for the sake of getting a lost game.
• In blitz games, rely more on your intuition than analytical calculation.
• In blitz, the knight is stronger than the bishop.
• In chess, as in life, a man is his own most dangerous opponent.
• In chess, as in life, prime opportunity strikes only once.
• In classic endgames the King is brought up as soon as possible, even if there was no need to hurry.
• In life, as in chess, our own pawns are an obstruction.
• In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.
• In open games, quickly develop the pieces and bring the king to safety.
• In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame.
• In the early game rooks are defensive, but later must become offensive.
• In the middlegame, the king is merely an extra, but in the endgame he is a star actor.
• In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.
• Inferior positions are the easiest to play.
• Invincibility comes from defense, possibility of victory from attack.
• It has been said that life is not long enough for chess, but that is life's fault.
• It is always better to sacrifice your opponent's men.
• It is better to lose a really good game than to win a bad one.
• It is better to study a worse line well than to reproduce a better computer line.
• It is difficult for a crippled pawn majority to create a passed pawn.
• It is necessary to attack where your opponent is weak and you are strong.
• It is no time to be playing chess when your house is on fire.
• It is not a move, even the best move, that you must seek, but a realizable plan.
• It is not acceptable to lose a beautiful game.
• It is not enough to be a good player, you must also play well.
• It is not the best move that you must seek, but a realizable plan.
• It is only necessary to see one move ahead as long as you find the best one.
• It is only the enemy queen that your king cannot directly attack.
• Just look one move ahead: the best one.
• Keep the opening simple, but play the middlegame with such brilliance that the game is decisive.
• Keep torturing with threats until, exhausted and exasperated, he finally makes a losing mistake.
• Keep your plans flexible.
• Knights perform best when given strong support.
• Know with ease when you can or cannot get there first.
• Know your strengths, and limitations.
• Knowing your opponent enables you to take the offensive.
• Knowing yourself enables you to maintain the defensive.
• Knowledge of tactics is the foundation of positional play.
• Lack of patience is probably the most common reason for a draw which should have been won.
• Lack of patience is probably the most common reason for losing a game.
• Learn from your draws and especially your defeats.
• Leave the pawns alone, except for center and passed pawns.
• Let the perfectionist play postal chess.
• Let the perfectionist play postal correspondence.
• Let your main objective be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
• Life is a kind of chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events.
• Life is like a game of chess, for it changes with each move.
• Life is too short for chess.
• Like basketball, move around and probe, then attack cracks in the defense.
• Liquidate backward and isolated pawns.
• Long analysis, wrong analysis.
• Look at the whole board.
• Look through the eyes of your pieces.
• Look to pawn structure to drive your plan.
• Losing your objectivity almost always means losing the game.
• Luck quantified: how often your opponent fails to punish your blunders.
• Maintain positional tension, rather than dissipating it too soon.
• Make certain all your pieces are defended.
• Make only one ill-considered move, and your opponent's wildest dreams becomes reality.
• Make your decision, then live or die with it.
• Making excuses for losing will never help you to win.
• Man is masterful over a machine, so long as he assigns its goals.
• Many calculations will lead to victory.
• Many men, many styles: what is chess style but the intangible expression of the will to win.
• Many won games have been lost due to overconfidence.
• Mastery essentially consists of analyzing chess positions accurately.
• Methodical thinking is more useful in chess than inspiration.
• Minimize distractions.
• Mistakes are inevitable, so get in the habit of learning from them.
• Mistakes are there to be made.
• Mistakes in a game make it more memorable, for you have suffered over each of them.
• Mistakes usually come in bunches.
• Mistrust is the most necessary characteristic of a chess player.
• Most book variations have no value because they are mistaken or contain fallacious assumptions.
• Most combinations are inspired by the player's memories of earlier games.
• Move to create an advantage.
• Move your piece in the worst plight, unless you discern an advantage by attacking.
• My favorite victory is when it is not even clear where my opponent made a mistake.
• Mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy.
• Never bring the queen out too early.
• Never count on your opponent to make a mistake.
• Never feel sorry for your opponent.
• Never forget that the king can be a fighting piece.
• Never underestimate your opponent.
• Never venture, never win!
• No chess grandmaster is normal, they only differ in their madness.
• No matter how bad one is, there is always somebody worse.
• No matter how good one is, there is always somebody better.
• No pawn breaks without resources to deal with them.
• No pawn exchanges, no file opening, no attack.
• No price is too great for the scalp of the enemy king.
• Not all artists are chess players, but all chess players are artists.
• Nothing excites jaded grandmasters more than a theoretical novelty.
• Nothing is more important than the fight for the center.
• Nothing that will teach you more than a trashing by a strong player or machine.
• On the chessboard, lies and hypocrisy do not last long.
• One bad move nullifies forty good ones.
• One cannot possibly know all about chess.
• One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one.
• One does not have to play well, it is sufficient to play better than your opponent.
• One lost game will teach you more than ten wins.
• One must make every effort to combat the thoughts and will of the opponent.
• One shall learn the art of self-control.
• Only a good bishop can be sacrificed, a bad bishop can only be lost.
• Only attack squares which are inadequately defended.
• Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack.
• Openings merely teach you openings, while endgames will teach you chess.
• Openings teach you openings, but endgames teach you chess!
• Opponent's big mistake: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
• Opportunities arrive when least expected.
• Opportunities multiply as they are seized.
• Overcome that moment of panic when the scale of disaster is yet unknown.
• Passed pawns must be pushed.
• Pawn endings have a forced character, and they can be worked out conclusively.
• Pawns are so small, almost insignificant, and yet they can depose kings.
• Pawns are the soul of chess, they alone form the attack and defense.
• Pawns not only create the sketch for the whole painting, they are the soil of any position.
• Perfection has no style.
• Physical stamina is sometimes more important than knowledge or analytical ability.
• Pick competitions which best suit you.
• Place your knight and bishop on the same colors to control more squares.
• Place your pawns on the color opposite to your bishop.
• Plan in a way that masks your real intent.
• Plan your victory in relation to the opponent you are facing.
• Planning an attack is the secret of defense.
• Play a move you know how to refute.
• Play lots of blitz to practice opening theory.
• Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine.
• Play to control the center, whether in the classic or hypermodern style.
• Play your best chess by postal correspondence.
• Playing against a machine, the question is not about winning, but whether you will survive.
• Playing against computer is like playing against an idiot who beats you everytime.
• Playing blitz chess, one can lose the habit of concentrating for several hours in serious chess.
• Playing for complications should only be adopted when you cannot find a clear and logical plan.
• Playing on both sides of the board is a great strategy.
• Playing slowly during the early phase to grasp the basic requirements of each position.
• Ponder and deliberate before making a move.
• Positional play is preparation for combinations.
• Positional players slowly take away your space, tie up your pieces, leaving you with nothing to do.
• Positional sacrifices are more praise-worthy than those based on tactical exactitude.
• Practice endings to master the intricacies of openings and middlegames.
• Practice makes perfect.
• Pretend to be inferior so that your opponent may grow arrogant.
• Prevent your opponent from winning, then wait to deliver a counter-attack.
• Psychology is the most important factor in chess.
• Put your opponent in a position where he must make two moves in a row.
• Rapid opening play will leave sufficient time for the middlegame.
• React to a strong unexpected move by reassessing your position calmly.
• Recall meaningful relations among the pieces, not just their distribution in space.
• Recognize the unreality of their unreal threats.
• Reinforcing every part, weakens every part.
• Relentlessly attack pinned pieces, weak pawns, and the exposed king.
• Religiously follow these maxims, except when it is incorrect to do so.
• Remember to enjoy the game.
• Revisit your errors, and work to make sure they do not occur again.
• Rooks belong behind passed pawns.
• Satisfaction can lead to a lack of vigilance, then to mistakes and missed opportunities.
• Search for pieces which have no retreat, and see if they can be captured.
• Secure the safety of the king by castling early, preferably kingside.
• Secure your center before beginning a wing attack.
• Seek to open lines and gain space.
• Seize that which your opponent holds dear.
• Seize the initiative whenever the opportunity presents itself.
• Setbacks and losses are both inevitable and essential for improvement.
• Shuffle around to see if your opponent makes a mistake.
• Simplicity, rather than dynamic complications, perhaps is the wisest.
• Since the passed pawn is a criminal, police surveillance is not sufficient.
• Sit on your hands, think it through, then take action.
• Some part of a mistake can be correct.
• Some people have all the will in the world, but still cannot play good chess.
• Sometimes we fear that which our opponent had never even considered.
• Strategy requires thought, tactics require observation.
• Strike while the iron is hot.
• Strive for positions that make your opponent uncomfortable.
• Study composed problems and endgames.
• Study tactics primarily, endgames secondarily.
• Studying your current weaknesses can provide great stimulus for future growth.
• Success is gained by accommodating ourselves to the opponent's purpose.
• Superior development increases in value relative to the game's openness.
• Supreme excellence consists in breaking the opponent's resistance.
• Tactical proficiency is the first requirement for mastery of the game.
• Tactical trees conceal the strategic picture of the woods where one is likely to get lost.
• Tactics flow from a superior position.
• Take whatever your opponent gives, unless you see a good reason not to.
• Take your time on those decisive moments.
• Talent can be developed, but first find what you are good at.
• Tell them nothing when their situation is gloomy.
• That pawn gained by accepting the Queen's Gambit is illusory.
• The aim on an open file is the intrusion into the seventh or eighth rank.
• The art is in avoiding catastrophic losses in key battles.
• The art of chess: ability to create and to control the tension of battle.
• The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.
• The beauty of logic: in chess the best move is often the most beautiful.
• The best defense is good attack.
• The center is the Balkans of the chessboard: fighting there may break out at any time.
• The chess engine reminds us to be humble in our self-assessment.
• The chess master moves his opponent, and avoids being moved by him.
• The chessboard explains the movement of time and the higher influences which control the world.
• The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary.
• The difference between masters and amateurs is that masters know when to panic.
• The double attack is the principle behind almost all tactics.
• The endgame is probably where you need the most practice.
• The essence of chess is thinking about what chess is.
• The fervor to win is perhaps more important than playing good moves.
• The first essential for an attack is the will to attack.
• The game of chess eases our life's struggle.
• The goal of most endgames is pawn promotion.
• The goal of the opening is to get a decent middlegame.
• The hardest game to win is a won game.
• The hardest lesson to learn is to love your enemy.
• The highest art lies in not allowing your opponent to show you what he can do.
• The idea comes before the logical argument.
• The joy in chess is an escape into complete absorption.
• The main difficulty in making positional exchange sacrifices is psychological caution.
• The masters distinguished two principal types of the Game: formal and psychological.
• The middlegame is chess itself with all its attacks, defences, and sacrifices.
• The middlegame provides the most decisive stage.
• The moment that you let up is the time that you can be hit by the sucker punch.
• The most important feature of the chess position is the activity of the pieces.
• The most important feature of the chess position is the mobility of the pieces.
• The most important role in pawn endings is played by the king.
• The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move.
• The move is there, but you must see it.
• The object is to crush the opponent's mind.
• The older I get, the more I value pawns.
• The only way to refute a gambit is to accept it.
• The opening and middle game must be studied in relation to the endgame.
• The opening is the only phase that holds the potential for true creativity.
• The opportunity to defeat the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.
• The pin is mightier than the sword.
• The pleasure of victory is greatly exceeded by the pain of defeat.
• The power of doubled rooks is more than double of a single rook.
• The power of hanging pawns is their mobility, their ability to create acute situations instantly.
• The primary constraint on a piece's activity is the pawn structure.
• The queen is the worst piece to block an enemy pawn.
• The queen is too precious to simply win a pawn.
• The rook belongs to the seventh rank.
• The scheme of a game is played on positional lines, its decision effected by combinations.
• The single most important thing in life is to believe in yourself.
• The spot from where you intend to fight must be reinforced.
• The strategist knows what to do when there is nothing to do.
• The threat is greater than its execution.
• The threat is stronger than the execution.
• The threat you do not see is the one which will defeat you.
• The victor has prepared himself, and waits to take the unprepared enemy.
• The victor is prudent and waits for an impatient enemy.
• The victor knows when to fight, but also when not to fight.
• The way a man plays chess demonstrates his whole nature.
• The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.
• The world is like a great chess game being played by the Gods where we are observers.
• The worst calamities arise from hesitation.
• Theoretically it is almost certain that the game is a draw.
• There are more adventures on a chessboard than on all the seas of the world.
• There are no heroes in chess.
• There are no signposts, such as "checkmate in 3," which will give alert.
• There are no sound studies, only ones which have not been busted yet.
• There are positions which must not be contested.
• There are several varieties of weak pawns: isolated, doubled, too advanced, retarded.
• There are some situations in chess where luck plays a part.
• There is no remorse like the remorse of chess.
• There is nothing more precious than the bishop pair.
• There is only one mistake: over-estimating your opponent, all else is either bad luck or weakness.
• There is only one real mistake: over-estimation of your opponent.
• Think of a draw offer as an offer to remain ignorant of what you could have learned.
• Think strategy while the opposing clock is ticking, but analyze tactics during your own turn.
• Thoroughly understand the endgame.
• Those who say they understand chess, understand nothing.
• Though combinations are numerous, the number of ideas are limited.
• To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.
• To clearly see ahead, concentrate on forcing moves.
• To improve your game you must study the endgame before everything else.
• To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.
• To play for a draw as White is a great crime against chess.
• To play for a draw is simply a crime against chess.
• To reach their full potential, bishops require open diagonals and attackable weaknesses.
• To reach their full potential, rooks require open files and ranks.
• To succeed, you need to be disciplined and adjust when circumstances change.
• Towards the end, the king can be a powerful offensive and defensive piece.
• Trade off your bad bishops.
• Trade pieces when your pawn structure is more sound than your opponent's.
• Trade your opponent's attacking pieces to break the attack.
• Trade your passive pieces for your opponent's active pieces.
• Train every day to stay in top shape, chess is a matter of daily training.
• True sacrifice involves a change in risk requiring foresight and fantasy.
• Try not to offer a draw which will send spectators into uncontrollable laughter.
• Try to play blindfold games.
• Turning chess into poker and hoping for a bluff is not advisable.
• Two types of men: those who yield to circumstances and those who aim to control circumstances.
• Under surging emotions we lose concentration and cease to objectively evaluate the board.
• Understand the trade-off between structural weakness and dynamic strength.
• Understanding is far more important than memory.
• Understanding must be supported by memory.
• Verify any published analysis before any reliance.
• Wait for it: there is always a moment when your opponent will miss an opportunity.
• Waste not resources on things which will not help you to win.
• We learn the habit of hoping for a favorable chance.
• We learn the habit of not being discouraged by present bad appearances in the state of our affairs.
• We learn the habit of persevering in the secrets of resources.
• Weak holes in the opponent's position must be occupied by pieces not pawns.
• What is better than a passed pawn? A passed pawn on the edge.
• What would chess be without silly mistakes?
• When a combination cannot be obtained, build small advantages.
• When ahead in material, trade pieces, not pawns.
• When behind in material, trade pawns, not pieces.
• When both queens are gone, your king becomes powerful.
• When cramped, exchange pieces to free your game.
• When exchanging pieces, the key is not always their value, but what is left on the board.
• When in doubt, do anything but push a pawn.
• When the game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box.
• When there is unusual disparity in material, initiative often is the deciding factor.
• When winning, offer a draw to a superior player only if it secures a big prize.
• When you absolutely do not know what to do anymore, it is time to panic.
• When you are behind, balance these two strategies: counter-attack and all-out defense.
• When you don't know what to play, just wait for a wrong idea to enter your opponent's mind.
• When you have the advantage, press on, else risk losing your edge.
• When you lose, you really feel the weight of oneself.
• When you see a good move, wait, then look for a better one.
• Whether you prefer chess or sex depends on the position.
• Whoever sees no other aim than checkmate will never become a good chess player.
• Win with grace, lose with dignity.
• Winning is not everything, but losing is nothing.
• Winning just comes as a relief, while defeats will be crushing.
• With perfect play, God versus God, chess is a draw.
• Without error there can be no brilliancy.
• Work hard to acquire the technique of rook endings.
• World events can seem quite unimportant in comparison to a catastrophe on the chessboard.
• Years of analysis and minutes of play are completely different.
• Yet given equality in battle, sometimes a draw should be offered.
• You can only improve if you love the game.
• You can retreat pieces, but not the pawns, so always think twice about pawn moves.
• You cannot win at chess if you are kind-hearted.
• You have to force moves and take chances.
• You must believe in yourself.
• You must have confidence in yourself, and this confidence should be based on fact.
• You need not play well, just help your opponent to play badly.
• You shall see your mistake, just as you lift your finger off the piece.
• You will have to lose thousands of games before becoming a decent player.
• You will learn much more from a game you lost than from a game you won.
• Your eyes on the wings, your mind on the center.
• Your pawns in the center will keep enemy pieces away from the best squares.
• Your playing deteriorates as your body does, since mind and body cannot be separated.
• Your true ability is only measured only when things get tough.

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Shortcut to this page: https://git.io/chess | Revision date : 2018-01-25