Greater Peoria Chess Foundation
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The Greater Peoria Chess Foundation is a 501(c)3 non profit organization dedicated to encouraging chess in our community and school systems. Chess helps students to develop many life skills that will help them as they navigate with challenges that lay ahead.
Monday Night Meeting Notice
The Monday night Kingsmen chess club is no l onger meeting at the Life Together Center. We will continue to meet at the Pizza Works in Peoria Heights. Same times as usual, please arrive any time after 7pm, activities start at 7. See You there!
Chess Underground Podcasts
Welcome to US Chess’ latest podcast, Chess Underground, the show that explores eccentricities, peculiarities, and theoretical novelties. Join Pete Karagianis and the Chess Underground every fourth Tuesday of the month.
Pete Karagianis Named US Chess Assistant Director of Events
Peoria's own Pete Karagianis has been named US Chess Assistant Director of Events.
"Pete’s calm demeanor, high energy and capable articulation will be valuable assets. He looks forward to sharing his vision of a quality event – a vision born from both his passion for the game and his wealth of experience within US Chess. We are happy to have him as part of our team." - US Chess.
GPCF Receives PPS Community Contribution Award
Peoria Public Schools awarded the 2017-18 Community Contribution Award to the Greater Peoria Chess Foundation at their June 11, 2018 Board meeting. GPCF provided chess sets and training software to PPS schools and supported a chess tournament at Von Steuben Middle School since 2017. Planned for this school year are more tournaments and a program to provide low cost US Chess memberships to students.
Aphorisms
Play what you Know, Know what you Play.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Every move should have a purpose.
- Bruce Pandolfini
When you see a good move, look again, there may be a better one.
- Emanuel Lasker
A Knight on the Rim is Dim.
- Chess Proverb
Chess is everything: art, science and sport.
- Anatoly Karpov
Every move should have a Touch of Poison.
- Murrel's Mottoes
3 ways out of check: move, capture & block.
- Chess Fact
[Chess] Computers are useless unless they can give you the answer.
- Pablo Picasso
First, Study the Endgame.
- Jose Capablanca
To Succeed, you must brave the Risk of Failure.
- Garry Kasparov
Every Chess Master was once a Beginner.
- Irving Chernev
Without Error there can be no Brilliancy
- Emanuel Lasker
Strategy requires Thought, Tactics requires Observation.
- Max Euwe
The Way to Refute a Sacrifice is to Accept It.
- Wilhelm Steinitz
The Two Questions: 1 - Is it Safe? 2 - What can My Opponent Do?
Questions that scale from Beginner to Master.
- Murrel's Mottoes
When Behind, Exchange Pawns. When Ahead, Exchange Pieces.
- Chess Proverb
In the Opening, Don't move the Same Piece Twice.
- Chess Proverb
In the Opening, you must Control the Center, Develop your Small pieces & Castle for King Safety
- Chess Proverb
Rooks belong Behind Passed Pawns.
- Chess Proverb
The Pin is Mightier than the Sword.
- Fred Reinfeld
people place too much stock in Ratings.
- Boris Gelfand
Once the Game is Over, the King and the pawn go back in the Same Box.
- Chess Proverb
I don’t believe in Psychology. I believe in Good Moves.
- Bobby Fischer
Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.
- Blaise Pascal
The Game of Chess is not merely an Idle Amusement.
- Benjamin Franklin
Chess, like Love, like Music, has the Power to Make Men Happy.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
Play the Opening like a Book, the Middlegame like a Magician, and the Endgame like a Machine.
- Rudolph Spielmann
Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.
- Mikhail Chigorin (also often credited to Frank Marshall)
Tactics is knowing what to do when there is something to do;
Strategy is knowing what to do when there is nothing to do.
- Savielly Tartakower
You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win.
- Jose Raul Capablanca
You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.
- Jose Raul Capablanca
The Passed Pawn is a Criminal, who should be kept under Lock and Key.
- Aron Nimzowitsch
Modern Chess is too much concerned with things like Pawn Structure.
Forget it, Checkmate ends the Game.
- Nigel Short
Nobody ever won a Chess game by Resigning.
- Savielly Tartakower
To play for a draw is a crime against chess.
- Mikhail Tal
It’s always better to sacrifice your opponent’s men.
- Savielly Tartakower
If your opponent offers you a draw,
try to work out why he thinks he’s worse off.
- Nigel Short
A Pawn may be Weak, but he Never Backs Down.
- Murrel's Mottoes
All I want to do, ever, is just play Chess.
- Bobby Fischer
Even the laziest King flees wildly in the face of a double check!
- Aron Nimzowitsch
Loose Pieces Drop Off.
- John Nunn
Every Check, Every Capture, Every Time.
- Murrel's Mottoes
You must beat me three times: in the opening, the middlegame and the endgame.
- Alexander Alekhine
Chess of the Mad Queen began in the 15th century between 1475 & 1500
The Queen previously, called the Counselor, moved 1 square like our King.
- Chess History
I believe there should be no reason why women cannot play as well as men.
- Grandmaster Susan Polgar
The Pawn's Weakness is its Strength.
- Murrel's Mottoes
To Take is a Mistake.
- Igor Smirnov
You can't Play what You don't See.
- Murrel's Mottoes
It is not a move, even the best move that you must seek, but a realizable plan.
- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
Number of possible ways of playing the first four moves for both sides is 318,979,564,000
- Chess Fact
Good players know all the rules. Great players know when to break them.
- Chess Proverb
There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine
- Mikhail Tal
There are exceptions to every chess axiom, including this one.
- Murrel's Mottoes
The New Pawn Move, advancing two squares on its first move, was introduced in Spain in 1280.
- Chess History
The Triangle of Learning includes Study, Play, Feedback.
- Dan Heisman
The Queen's Strength is her Weakness.
(She must flee exchanges with smaller pieces)
- Murrel's Mottoes
One bad move nullifies forty good ones.
- Bernhard Horwitz
Always play with Confidence, Aggression, and Respect for Your Opponent's Moves and Ideas.
- Dan Heisman
Respect Your Opponent, remember they are playing on the Same Board as You.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Capture with the Least Valuable Piece
(but there ARE exceptions!)
- Chess Proverb
Win with Grace, Lose with Dignity!
- Susan Polgar
Don't worry about your rating, work on your playing strength and your rating will follow.
- Dan Heisman
"Learn from Your Mistakes & Keep on Improving"
- Susan Polgar
"You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5 and the path leading out is only wide enough for one."
- Mikhail Tal
Castle early, castle often.
- Chess Proverb
The Blunders are all there on the Board, Waiting to be Made.
- Savielly Tartakower
On the Chessboard, Lies and Hypocrisy do not Survive Long.
- Emanuel Lasker
Chess is like Life.
- Boris Spassky
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
Believe in Yourself Regardless of what Everyone else Says.
- Hikaru Nakamura
How Come the Little Things bother you when you are in a Bad Position
They don't bother you in Good Positions.
- Yasser Seirawan
It is not enough to be a good player... you must also play well.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
Lack of patience is probably the most common reason for losing a game, or drawing games that should have been won.
- Bent Larsen
The pawns are the soul of chess
- François André Philidor
In Chess, as it is played by masters, chance is practically eliminated.
- Emanuel Lasker
Life is a kind of Chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events.
- Benjamin Franklin
One pawn is never enough if the other King is standing in front of the pawn.
- Ainis Giri
It is dangerous to maintain equality at the cost of placing the pieces passively.
- Anatoly Karpov
Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic.
- Mikhail Botvinnik
He who plays to win a drawn game loses it.
- Chess Player’s Magazine, August 1867
The sign of a great Master is his ability to win a won game quickly and painlessly.
- Irving Chernev
Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.
- Adolf Anderssen
Strategy is the tiebreak of equally safe moves.
- Dan Heisman
Hope Chess is when you don't analyze your opponent's checks, captures or threats
and when he makes one, you hope you can meet it.
- Dan Heisman
When it comes to rules, never listen to your opponent.
- Dan Heisman
"Knights before Bishops" generally means "NBNB", not "NNBB", so you can castle more quickly.
- Dan Heisman
Never make a good move too soon.
- James Mason
Never interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake.
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Every move creates a weakness.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
You need not play well - just help your opponent to play badly.
- Genrikh Chepukaitis
Avoidance of mistakes is the beginning, as it is the end, of mastery in chess.
- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
Picking a coach because they were a good player is like picking a chef because he's a good eater
- Paul Reddick
The highest art of the chessplayer lies in not allowing your opponent to show you what he can do. - Garry Kasparov
- Garry Kasparov
Some part of a mistake is always correct.
- Savielly Tartakower
Try to maintain at least one pawn in the center.
- Chess Proverb
The placing of the center pawns determines the 'topography' of a game of chess.
- Alexander Kotov
If a ruler does not understand Chess, how can he rule over a kingdom?
- Persian King Khusrow II (AD 580-628)
Fischer almost never has any bad pieces. He exchanges them, and the bad pieces remain with his opponents.
– Yuri Balashov
It is not possible to become a great player without having learned how to analyze deeply and accurately.
– Mark Dvoretsky
Combinations with a queen sacrifice are among the most striking and memorable.
- Anatoly Karpov
Not all artists are Chess players, but all Chess players are artists.
- Marcel Duchamp
Openings teach you openings. Endgames teach you chess!
- Stephan Gerzadowicz
They call it blitz. Each guy gets five minutes so you’re always under the clock and it’s kind of an adrenaline rush.
- Woody Harrelson (Actor)
To play for a draw, at any rate with White, is to some degree a crime against chess.
- Mikhail Tal
Even in the heat of a middlegame battle the master still has to bear in mind the outlines of a possible future ending.
- David Bronstein
To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game.
- Savielly Tartakover
Chess is life and every game is like a new life.
- Eduard Gufeld
Chess is a matter of delicate judgement, knowing when to punch and how to duck.
- Bobby Fischer
A man that will take back a move at Chess will pick a pocket.
- Richard Fenton
If your opponent offers you a draw, try to work out why he thinks he's worse off.
- Nigel Short
All Combinations are Based on a Double Attack.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Pinned Pieces don't Capture (mostly true)
- Murrel's Mottoes
I have found that after 1.d4 there are more opportunities for richer play.
- Garry Kasparov
Get the Knights into Action before Both Bishops are Developed.
- Emanuel Lasker
Chess is the touchstone of intellect.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
- Emo Philips
Chess is a cure for headaches.
- John Maynard Keynes
A good player is always lucky.
- Jose Raul Capablanca
Chess is 99% tactics.
- Rudolph Teichmann
The essential disadvantage of the isolated pawn ...
lies not in the pawn itself,
but in the square in front of the pawn.
- Richard Reti
Think First. Move Second.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Try to play after your opponent has eaten or drunk freely.
- Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c. 1465 – c.1530)
A Gambit never becomes sheer routine as long as you fear you may lose the King and P ending!
- Bent Larsen
Good positions don’t win games, good moves do.
- Gerald Abrahams
Only sissies Castle.
- Rob Sillars
The first principle of attack - don't let the enemy develop!
- Rueben Fine
The first principle of attack - don't let the enemy develop!
- Rueben Fine
Play the move that forces the win in the simplest way.
Leave the brilliancies to Alekhine, Keres and Tal.
- Irving Chernev
Weak points or holes in the opponent's position must be occupied by pieces, not pawns- Siegbert Tarrasch
It is said that an ounce of common sense can outweigh a ton of 'variations'.
- Savielly Tartakower
Good players develop a tactical instinct, a sense of what is possible or likely and what is not worth calculating.
- Samuel Reshevsky
The path from a1 to a8 is the same length as the path from a1 to h8.
- Chess Facts
In the Ruy Lopez, one must be patient, wait and carry on a lengthy and wearisome struggle.
- Boris Spassky
The scheme of a game is played on positional lines; the decision of it, as a rule, is effected by combinations.
- Richard Reti
A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom or never make a fortune.
- Francois-Andre Danican Philidor
I have always disliked the fierce competitive spirit embodied in that highly intellectual game.
- Albert Einstein
When you defend, try not to worry or become upset.
Keep your cool and trust your position - it's all you've got.
- Pal Benko
A player surprised is half beaten.
- Chess Proverb
"Chess beauty" is in the geometry of the game, and the struggle of plans.
- Levon Aronian
A win by an unsound combination, however showy, fills me with artistic horror.
- Wilhelm Steinitz
A Queen's sacrifice, even when fairly obvious, always rejoices the heart of the chess-lover.
- Savielly Tartakower
Excellence at Chess is one mark of a scheming mind.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
There's not the mystery in ten murders that there is in one game of chess.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
He who analyses blitz is stupid.
- Rashid Nezhmetdinov
Don't be afraid of losing, be afraid of playing a game and not learning something.
- Dan Heisman
Every Exchange has a Winner and Loser.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Chess is eminently and emphatically the philospher's game.
- Paul Morphy
Life's too short for Chess.
- Henry James Byron
Pawn endings are to chess what putting is to golf.
- Cecil Purdy
Daring ideas are like Chess men moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great chess player.
- Bobby Fischer
If you're too busy to play chess... you're too busy!
- Chess Fact
Discovered check is the dive bomber of the chess board.
- Rueben Fine
Drawn games are sometimes more scintillating than any conclusive contest.
- Savielly Tartakower
A draw can be obtained not only by repeating moves, but also by one weak move.
- Savielly Tartakower
Chess is a test of wills.
- Paul Keres
Youth has triumphed! (upon defeating 86-year-old Dirk van Foreest)
- 84-year-old Jacques Mieses
My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian.
- Samuel Reshevsky
Haste is never more dangerous than when you feel that victory is in your grasp.
- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
Fischer is an American Chess tragedy on par with Morphy and Pillsbury.
- Mig Greengard
Pay particular attention to the f2-and f7-squares.
- Novice Warning
Attack! Attack! Always Attack!
- Adolf Anderssen
Blitz Chess rots the brain just as surely as alcohol.
- Nigel Short
Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack.
- Wilhelm Steinitz
I often play a move I know how to refute.
- Bent Larsen
Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponents mind.
- Bobby Fischer
I like the moment when I break a man's ego.
- Bobby Fischer
Many have become chess masters, but no one has become the master of chess.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
As a rule, pawn endings have a forced character, and they can be worked out conclusively.
- Mark Dvoretsky
Tactics flow from a superior position.
- Bobby Fischer
Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of haviong an evil thought during the game.
- Wilhelm Steinitz
One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one.
- Bobby Fischer
To win without pawns, you must be a rook or two minor pieces ahead.
- Chess Proverb
The best defense is a counterattack.
- Chess Proverb
If you don't win, it's not a great tragedy - the worst that happens is that you lose a game.
- Bobby Fischer
Let the perfectionist play postal.
- Yasser Seirawan
The hardest part of chess is winning a won game.
- Frank Marshall
A bad day of Chess is better than any good day at work.
- Chess Proverb
During a game I cease to think about the result as I become so enthralled by what’s happening on the board.
- Magnus Carlsen
Sit your opponent with the sun in his eyes.
- Ruy Lopez (1561)
The most important role in pawn endings is played by the king.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a Chessplayer’s nature.
- Rudolf Spielmann
You can permit yourself any liberty in the opening except the luxury of a passive position.
- Grigory Sanakoev
Chess is intellectual gymnastics.
- Wilhelm Steinitz
When chess masters err, ordinary wood pushers tend to derive a measure of satisfaction, if not actual glee.
- I.A. Horowitz
Can you imagine the relief it gives a mother when her child amuses herself quietly for hours on end?
- Klara Polgar
Every pawn is a potential queen.
- James Mason
GM Naiditsch reckoned that me playing the King's Indian against Anand
was something akin to a samurai running at a machine gun with a sword.
- Hikaru Nakamura
One of the objectives of opening play is to try to surprise your opponent.
- Edmar Mednis
If you Sacrifice, Know exactly What you Expect to Get in Return.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Centralize your pieces to make them powerful.
- Chess Proverb
Chess is a struggle against error.
- Johannes Zukertort
A rook on the seventh rank is sufficient compensation for a pawn.
- Chess Proverb
I prefer to lose a really good game than to win a bad one.
- David Levy
Help your Pieces so they can Help You.
- Paul Morphy
Never Waste a Check!
- Murrel's Mottoes
In the endgame, activate your King.
- Chess Proverb
Imagine 20 extra minutes 3 days/week for 16 weeks = 16 hours! No chance you don't get better doing that.
- David Klein
A strong memory, concentration, imagination, and a strong will is required to become a great chess player.
- Bobby Fischer
A strength over extended becomes a weakness.
- Paul Reddick
Chess is thirty to forty percent psychology. You don't have this when you play a computer. I can't confuse it.
- Judit Polgar
In the ending the King is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns.
- Wilhelm Steinitz
A player who has a strong center has nothing to fear from any attack elsewhere on the board.
- Wilhelm Steinitz
One doesn't have to play well, it's enough to play better than your opponent.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
The essence of chess is thinking about what chess is.
- David Bronstein
The endgame is an arena in which miraculous escapes are not uncommon.
- Leonid Shamkovich
Never a mate with a knight on f8.
- Chess Proverb
Try to play after your opponent has eaten or drunk freely.
- Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c. 1465 – c.1530)
I know that with perfect play, God versus God, Fritz versus Fritz, chess is a draw ...
- Nigel Short
No matter how much theory progresses, how radically styles change, chess play is inconceivable without tactics.
- Samuel Reshevsky
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle
Amateurs practice until they can get it right,
Masters practice until they can't get it wrong.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Neither knowing nothing about openings nor trying to memorize entire books/databases can be the right approach.
Learn your main tabiyas;
After each game, try to find the one opening move you would improve next time.
- Dan Heisman
Take pride in your ugly wins - you didn't give up!
- Murrel's Mottoes
Good offense and good defense both begin with good development.
- Bruce A. Moon
Leave the pawns alone,except for center pawns and passed pawns.
- Chess Proverb
When ahead in Material, Exchange Pieces, specially Queens.
- Chess Proverb
Masters learn Structures, Club Players learn Moves.
- Damian Lemos
The goal of doing easy problems is not to solve them, but to recognize them quickly & accurately.
- Dan Heisman
In blitz, the knight is stronger than the bishop.
- GM Vlastmil Hort
Chess is a game which reflects most honor on human wit.
- Voltaire
No Pawn Exchanges, No File-opening, No Attack.
- Aaron Nimzowitsch
An ounce of common sense can outweigh a ton of 'variations'.
- Savielly Tartakower
Apart from direct mistakes, there is nothing more ruinous than routine play, the aim of which is mechanical development.
- GM Alexei Suetin
Mistrust is the most necessary characteristic of the chess player.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.
- Kobe Bryant
Chess holds its master in its own bonds, shaking the mind and brain so that the inner freedom of the very strongest must suffer.
- Albert Einstein
The king is a strong piece - use it !
- Rueben Fine
Concentrate on material gains. Whatever your opponent gives you take, unless you see a good reason not to.
- Bobby Fischer
The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary.
- Aaron Nimzovich
… a lively imagination can exercise itself most fully and creatively in conjuring up magnificent combinations.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
If you play the Caro-Kann when you’re young, what are you going to play when you’re older?
– Bent Larsen
The Future belongs to he who has the Bishops.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
If you are too busy to play chess... you are too busy.
- Chess Proverb
In order to truly improve you must analyze & evaluate better
- Dan Heisman
Every move is an opportunity to interfere with your opponent's plans
- Chess Proverb
Avoid piece exchanges when you control more squares.
- Chess Proverb
A draw can be obtained not only by repeating moves, but also by one weak move.
- Savielly Tartakower
Doubled, Isolated, and Backward Pawns are Ugly Pawns. You don't want Ugly Pawns.
- Murrel's Mottoes
The quickest way to increase your rating is by improving your weakest skill.
- Damian Lemos
Improving your chess requires daily practice.
- IM John Bartholomew
Think First, Move Second.
- Murrel's Mottoes
A target is any unprotected piece or a piece that is inadequately protected.
- Murrel's Mottoes
The Queen must use her Bishop powers to attack a Rook and her Rook powers to attack a Bishop.
- Murrel's Mottoes
If not a composer, I would have wanted to be a chess player
- Ennio Morricone
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
- Seneca
Good development places every piece on it's optimum square without impeding other pieces.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Bishop and Knight - three pawns, Rook - 5 pawns, Queen - 9 pawns, King Safety, Priceless!
- Master Card
Apart from direct mistakes, there is nothing more ruinous than routine play, the aim of which is mechanical development.
- GM Alexei Suetin
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
- Martin Luther King Jr
Cultivation to the mind is as necessary as food to the body.
- Cicero
There must have been a time when men were demi-gods - or they could not have invented chess.
- Gustav Schenk
King Safety is Job #1
- Murrel's Mottoes (Thanks Ford)
The criterion of real strength is a deep penetration into the secrets of a position.
- Tigran Petrosian
Remember, my darling, the most dangerous thing for the family life is – chess!
- 1925 Russian silent film 'Chess Fever'
The older I grow, the more I value pawns.
- Paul Keres
Chess is imagination.
- David Bronstein
Fischer is Fischer, but a Knight is a Knight!
- Mikhail Tal
A chess player never has a heart attack in a good position.
- Bent Larsen
Checkers is for tramps.
- Paul Morphy
Hardest move to find is moving the Knight backwards
- Vassily Ivanchuk
Every exchange has a Winner and a Loser, even if only measureable in micropawns.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Any material change in a position must come about by mate, a capture, or a Pawn - promotion.
- Cecil Purdy
The harder you work, the luckier you get.
- Gary Player
I feel as if I were a pinned piece in a game of chess, when my opponent says of it: That piece cannot be moved.
- Soren Kierkegaard
In Chess, just as in life, today’s bliss may be tomorrow’s poison.
- Assaic
The hallmark of the artist is simplicity.
- Larry Evans
For a game chess is too serious, for seriousness too much of a game.
- Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86)
However hopeless the situation appears there always exists the possibility of putting up a stubborn resistance.
- Paul Keres
Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's okay to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.
- Magness Carlson
Mountains don't make me want to climb them, rain doesn't make me want to dance and birds don't make me want to fly. I just want to spend my life in total oblivion, chasing a meaningless lichess rating, feeling a tinge of happiness everytime I win, and great frustration when I lose.
- Anurag Malik
Bishops never change their square color; Knights change their color every move.
- Chess Fact
Knights can never fork two pieces which are on opposite colored squares.
- Chess Fact
you might resign too early, but never too late!
- GM Avetik Grigoryan
Winning isn't everything … but losing is nothing.
- Edmar Mednis
Castling is a King move.
- Chess Fact
The important thing is to learn a lesson every time you lose.
- John McEnroe
Losing is a learning experience. It teaches you humility. It teaches you to work harder. It's also a powerful motivator.
- Yogi Berra
Life is like a game of chess, changing with each move.
- Chess Proverb
Every pawn move creates a weakness.
- Chess Proverb
Every rule of chess play is position dependent.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A frequently changed strategy is the same as no strategy.
- Garry Kasparov
The turning point in my career came with the realization that Black should play to win instead of just steering for equality.
- Bobby Fischer
He who takes the Queen’s Knight’s Pawn will sleep in the streets.
- Chess Proverb
Of all the drugs in the world, Chess must be the most permanently pleasurable.
- Assiac
Straightforward actions generally lead to engagement, surprising actions generally lead to victory.
- Sun Tzu
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
- Sun Tzu
The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy so that he cannot fathom our real intent..
- Sun Tzu
Ask yourself at every move, is this necessary?
- Marcus Aurelius
what is chess style but the intangible expression of the will to win.
- Aaron Nimzowitsch
In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else.
- Jose Raul Capablanca
A Chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second when you believe you have an advantage, and the third… when you know you’re going to lose!
- Savielly Tartakower
Chess demands total concentration
- Bobby Fischer
Respect your opponent. He was assigned to the same board as you.
- Murrel's Mottoes
Do not regard your Opponent as a Sheep, but rather as a Wolf.
- Chess Proverb
Take care of the King, everything else follows.
No fool can play chess, and only fools do.
- Chess Proverb
It is never safe to take the queen knight pawn with the queen – even when it is safe.
- Chess Proverb
Capture first and philosophize later.
- Savielly Tartakover
Champions play to win while others play not to lose!
- Susan Polgar
I like when the game turns into a contest of ideas and not a battle between home analysis.
- Magnus Carlson
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'
– Muhammad Ali
The power of coaching is that you are expected to give people the path to find answers, not the answers.
– Tom Mahalo
A double Check is so terrifying that all the pieces are frozen in place and only a true King can move.
– Murrel's Mottoes
After a bad Opening, there is hope for the middle game.
After a bad middle game, there is hope for the endgame.
Butonce you are in the endgame,
the moment of truth has arrived!
– Edmar Mednis
Chess is not something that drives people sane mad; it is something that keeps mad people sane.
– William Hartston
In chess, as in life, a man is his own most dangerous opponent.
– Vasily Smyslov
A knight on e6 e6 is like a rusty nail in the knee.
– Adolf Anderssen
Chess is a test of wills.
– Paul Keres
Chess is a meritocracy.
– Lawrence Day
Chess is a cure for headaches.
– John Maynard Keynes
The only good Rook is an active Rook!
– Samuel Reshevsky
In the ending, the King is a powerful piece for assisting his own pawns, or stopping the adverse pawns
– Wilhelm Steinitz
Every game is immortal if you have the pgn!
– Murrel's Mottoes
If you can play checmate. Play Checkmate!
– Murrel's Mottoes
If you have only one legal move, play it quickly and think on your opponent's time!
– Murrel's Mottoes
It is usually better to recapture than it is to capture first.
– Murrel's Mottoes
To take is a mistake.
– Murrel's Mottoes
Don't exchange pieces or pawns unless you get the better of the trade.
– Murrel's Mottoes
Time is a precious thing. Never waste it.
– Willy Wonka
Mistakes are part of the game. It's how well you recover from them, that's the mark of a great player.
- Alice Cooper
I just try to learn and get the best from the great masters, contemparary and from the past.
- Magnus Carlsen
A pawn, when separated from his fellows, will seldom or never make a fortune.
- Francois-Andre Danican Philidor
We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.
- George Bernard Shaw
Try to play after your opponent has eaten or drunk freely.
- Luis Ramírez de Lucena (c. 1465 – c.1530)
The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.
- Aaron Nimzowitsch
The combination player thinks forward; he starts from the given position, and tries the forceful moves in his mind.
- Emanuel Lasker
If every time you lose, you learn the cause of your loss and make a positive correction, you will soon be a good player.
- Dan Heisman
Pace yourself so that, no matter the time limit, you always use almost all your time each game without getting into unnecessary time pressure
- Dan Heisman
If Winning, Clarify; if Losing, Complicate
- Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.
- Alexander Alekhine
It cannot be too greatly emphasized that the most important role in pawn endings is played by the king.
- Siegbert Tarrasch
If you are to win a game, at some point you must surprise your opponent and play a move he did not expect.
- Murrel's Mottoes
No move can be a brilliancy if it is not played.
- Murrel's Mottoes (with a Hat Tip to Neals Bohr)
Never capture a piece that helps your opponent develop.
- Danny Rensch
Patience is the most valuable trait of the endgame player.
- Pal Benko
Before the endgame, the gods have placed the middlegame!
- Siegbert Tarrasch
The middlegame is chess itself; with all its possibilities, its attacks, defenses, sacrifices, etc
- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
The path to improvement lies in facing our problems head-on.
- GM Avetik Grigoryan
The middlegame is chess itself; with all its possibilities, its attacks, defenses, sacrifices, etc
- Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost.
- Zig Zigler
Chess is the touchstone of intellect.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Chess is a cure for headaches.- John Maynard Keynes
Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.- Sun Tzu
As a chess player one has to be able to control one’s feelings, one has to be as cold as a machine.- Levon Aronianu
Never laugh at the Dragon.- Bilbo Bagins
A passed pawn increase in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes.- Jose Capablanca
(on Bullet chess) Why do you use a chessboard? There is no point, just push the clock and push the clock, and the 1st one who wins on time wins. There's no point to have a chessboard as it's not chess anyway!- Vladimir Kramnik
Winning doesn’t always mean being first. Winning means you’re doing better than you’ve ever done before.– Bonnie Blair
A Knight ending is really a Pawn ending.– Mikhail Botvinnik
You can't win a game without surprizing your opponent.– Murrel's Mottoes
If a ruler does not understand Chess, how can he rule over a kingdom?– King Khusros II AD 580 - 628
First restrain, next blockade, lastly destroy.– Aron Nimzowitsch
Puzzles are the best way to improve pattern recognition.– Hikaru Nakamura
Underground Playlist
- 41 - NM Gopal Menon, some spicy interviews as hot as the Miami heat
- 40 - NM Gopal Menon, How do we perform at our best over the board?
- 39 - NM Gopal Menon, a philosophical discussion of chess Twitter psychology mind games and stare-downs
- 38 - NM Gopal Menon, Chess Variants
- 37 - NM Gopal Menon, "What is Chess most like?"
- 36 - IM Kassa Korley, at 15 was the youngest African-American National Master in history
- 35 - IM Kostya Kavutskiy of ChessDojo, a deep dive into chess coaching improvement streaming and more!
- 34 - JJ Lang, We speak to "Chessfeels" himself for a fireside chat
- 33 - FM Albert Chow, Tribute to Chicago chess legend
- 32 - IM Eric Rose, The definitive Interview