Chess

"That which has reached us from the discoveries of their clear thinking and the marvels of their inventions is the (game) of chess. The Indians have, in the construction of its cells, its double numbers, its symbols and secrets, reached the forefront of knowledge. They have extracted its mysteries from supernatural forces. While the game is being played and its pieces are being maneuvered, there appear the beauty of structure and the greatness of harmony. It demonstrates the manifestation of high intentions and noble deeds, as it provides various forms of warnings from enemies and points out ruses as well as ways to avoid dangers. And in this, there is considerable gain and useful profit."

"Chess is so characteristic a product of the legacy of Islam that it deserves more than a passing mention. Modern European chess is the direct descendant of an ancient Indian game, adopted by the Persians, handed on by them to the Muslim world, and finally borrowed from Islam by Christian Europe."

"It is an abomination to play at chess, dice, or any other game, for if anything be staked it is gambling (maisir), which is expressly forbidden in the Qur'an; or if, on the other hand nothing be hazarded it is useless and vain. Besides, the Prophet has declared all the entertainment of a Muslim to be vain except three: the breaking in of his horse, the drawing of his bow, and playing and amusing himself with his wives. Several of the learned, however, deem the game at chess lawful as having a tendency to quicken the understanding. This is the opinion of ash-Shafi`i. If a man play at chess for a stake, it destroys the integrity of his character, but if he do not play for a stake, the integrity of his character is not affected."

"Life's too short for chess."

"A friendship across sectarian lines is not a common phenomenon, in his experience. In the past, it has struck him that, apart from homosexuals, only chess players have found a reliable way to bridge, intensely but without fatal violence, the gulf that separates any given pair of men."

"Amberley excelled at chess—one mark, Watson, of a scheming mind."

"Fancy what a game at chess would be if all the chessmen had passions and intellects, more or less small and cunning; if you were not only uncertain about your adversary's men, but a little uncertain also about your own; if your knight could shuffle himself on to a new square by the sly; if your bishop, in disgust at your castling, could wheedle your pawns out of their places; and if your pawns, hating you because they are pawns, could make away from their appointed posts that you might get checkmate on a sudden. You might be the longest-headed of deducted reasoners, and yet you might be beaten by your own pawns. You would be especially likely to be beaten, if you depended arrogantly on your mathematical imagination, and regarded your passionate pieces with contempt. Yet this imaginary chess is easy compared with the game a man has to play against his fellow-men with other fellow-men for his instruments. He thinks himself sagacious, perhaps, because he trusts no bond except that of self-interest; but the only self-interest he can safely rely on is what seems to be such to the mind he would use or govern. Can he ever be sure of knowing this?"

"In my opinion, the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force."

"I have played over several hundred of Morphy's games, and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity."

"You know I'm finished with the old chess because it's all just a lot of book and memorization you know."

"In chess so much depends on opening theory, so the champions before the last century did not know as much as I do and other players do about opening theory. So if you just brought them back from the dead they wouldn't do well. They'd get bad openings. You cannot compare the playing strength, you can only talk about natural ability. Memorization is enormously powerful. Some kid of fourteen today, or even younger, could get an opening advantage against Capablanca, and especially against the players of the previous century, like Morphy and Steinitz. Maybe they would still be able to outplay the young kid of today. Or maybe not, because nowadays when you get the opening advantage not only do you get the opening advantage, you know how to play, they have so many examples of what to do from this position. It is really deadly, and that is why I don't like chess any more."

"Capablanca] wanted to change the rules already, back in the twenties, because he said chess was getting played out. He was right. Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorization and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative."

"The Game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of Chess, in which we have often points to gain, and competitors or adversaries to contend with, and in which there is a vast variety of good and ill events, that are, in some degree, the effect of prudence, or the want of it. By playing at Chess then, we may learn: 1st, Foresight, which looks a little into futurity, and considers the consequences that may attend an action … 2nd, Circumspection, which surveys the whole Chess-board, or scene of action:—the relation of the several Pieces, and their situations; … 3rd, Caution, not to make our moves too hastily."

"He who played chess is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of a swine."

"Chess problems are the hymn-tunes of mathematics."

"[C]hess is not a game for dictators for numerous reasons. One, it's transparent. It’s all information hundred percent available so you know exactly what you have, you know exactly what your opponent has. You don’t know what he or she is thinking, but you definitely know what kind of resources your opponent can use to hurt you, to damage your position. Also, chess is very much a strategic game so you have to think long-term. Dictators don’t think long-term. Dictators, especially who are in power for so long as Putin is, they have to work on the survival mode. Because it’s all about today, maybe tomorrow morning. Everything that helps us survive is good. Because the moment the dictator thinks long-term, he’ll definitely miss guys from his own entourage hitting him in his own back. The game that defines dictators much better is poker because it’s about bluffs. It doesn’t matter whether you have a strong hand or weak hand. You can have a weak hand, but if you’re comfortable bluffing, raising stakes, and if you can read your opponent."

"We must finish once and for all with the neutrality of chess. We must condemn once and for all the formula "chess for the sake of chess", like the formula "art for art's sake". We must organize shockbrigades of chess-players, and begin immediate realization of a Five-Year Plan for chess."

"This loss of interest, hair, and enterprise— Ah, if the game were poker, yes, You might discard them, draw a full house! But it's chess."

"On the chessboard lies and hypocrisy do not survive long. The creative combination lays bare the presumption of a lie; the merciless fact, culminating in a checkmate, contradicts the hypocrite."

"“You are not the first to be shocked and horrified by chess,” he assured her. “It is a curse of the intellect. It is a game for lunatics—or else it creates them.”"

"Chess never has been and never can be aught but a recreation. It should not be indulged in to the detriment of other and more serious avocations."

"It is not only the most delightful and scientific, but the most moral of amusements."

"It is eminently and emphatically the philosopher's game."

"Let the chessboard supercede the card table, and a great improvement will be visible in the morals of the community."

"I am more strongly confirmed than ever in the belief that the time devoted to chess is literally frittered away. It is, to be sure, a most exhilarating sport, but it is only a sport; and it is not to be wondered at that such as have been passionately addicted to the charming pastime should one day ask themselves whether sober reason does not advise its utter dereliction."

"There is no good in chess, and he disapproved of it... I heard him disapprove of playing it and other worthless games."

"It's a useful mental exercise. Through the years, many thinkers have been fascinated by it. But I don't enjoy playing... Because it was a game that was born during a brutal age when life counted for little. Everyone believed that some people were worth more than others. Kings. Pawns. I don't think that anyone is worth more than anyone else... Chess is just a game. Real people are not pieces. You can't assign more value to some of them and not others. Not to me. Not to anyone. People are not a thing that you can sacrifice. The lesson is, anyone who looks on to the world as if it is a game of chess, deserves to lose.""

"Chess is a game by its form, an art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery in it. Chess can convey as much happiness as a good book or work of music can. However, it is necessary to learn to play well and only afterwards will one experience real delight."

"I'm absolutely convinced that in chess – although it remains a game – there is nothing accidental."

"Some consider that when I play I am excessively cautious, but it seems to me that the question may be a different one. I try to avoid chance. Those who rely on chance should play cards or roulette. Chess is something quite different."

"They say my chess games should be more interesting. I could be more interesting — and also lose."

"I don’t mind smoking interfering with my play. Some folks say it takes the sharp edge from one’s intellect, and spoils one’s memory. I haven’t found it so. I’ve smoked since I was 14, and I can play better when I have a cigar in my mouth – only a cigar, never anything else. When I play a lot of games at the same time, I must be keyed up to it, as it were. I practise what you call self-hypnotism. It is largely will-power. You see, it’s just this way. When it becomes my turn to make a move at one of the chess boards, my mental powers are concentrated severely on the one move. All the other chess boards, the checkers and whist are obliterated from my mind. It is as though I had never started playing those games at all. I seem to remember nothing of them. I come to a decision, the move is made, and I turn again to the cards in my hand. Quick as lightning the game of chess vanishes from my mind. Now it is nothing but whist with me. I seem never to have had a thought of anything but the game of cards. I play one. Then I move one of the checkers. These transitions of mind take place so quickly that I seem to be playing chess, checkers and whist all at once, and to be thinking of all the games at once. But it is as I explained. The only thing I really need for the ordeal is my cigar."

"Yet to calculate is not in itself to analyse. A chess-player, for example, does the one without effort at the other. It follows that the game of chess, in its effects upon mental character, is greatly misunderstood. I [...] assert that the higher powers of the reflective intellect are more decidedly and more usefully tasked by the unostentatious game of draughts than by all the elaborate frivolity of chess. In this latter, where the pieces have different and bizarre motions, with various and variable values, what is only complex is mistaken (a not unusual error) for what is profound. The attention is here called powerfully into play. If it flag for an instant, an oversight is committed, resulting in injury or defeat. The possible moves being not only manifold but involute, the chances of such oversights are multiplied; and in nine cases out of ten it is the more concentrative rather than the more acute player who conquers."

"The game of chess is like a sword fight. You must think first, before you move."

"Chess and Islam were born about the same time — chess out of a regional need to understand complex new ideas, and Islam out of the Arabs' desperate need for discipline, intelligence, and meaningful community. [...] In Persia the Muslims encountered chatrang, the bloodless new war game which relied solely on players' intellect. Chess and Islam complemented each other well: a new game of war, wits and self-control serving a spirited new religious and social movement organized around the same values."

"To play chess, the ulema declare, is detestable according to Imam Abu Hanifa, and a man habituated to it is not qualified to be imam... And how could they rule otherwise? Had the Prophet not said, ‘He who plays chess is like one who dyes his hand with the flesh and blood of swine?’..."

"My life was in crisis. All my values were becoming meaningless. I was discovering that my chosen profession was empty, foolish, as useless as—as playing chess."

"‘Anderssen once said to me: “To win a tournament, a competitor must in the first place play well, but he should also have a good amount of luck.” I quite agree with that, but it naturally follows that there must be also ill luck in tournaments, of which many instances could be cited, notably that of Winawer, who, after having tied for first and second prizes in Vienna, and just a few weeks before he came out chief victor in Nuremberg, did not win in London a single prize out of eight (to include the special one for the best score against the prize-holders). All this would tend to show that, at least, a single tournament, especially one consisting of one round only, cannot be regarded as a test.’"

"Shall we play Bezique? Or Nightjack? I’ve cards, or chess if you prefer, but I’ve always found chess to be a bit too much like real life to provide much enjoyment as a game."

"Ludimus effigiem belli, simulataque veris Praelia, buxo acies fictas, et ludicra regna, Ut gemini inter se reges albusque, nigerque Pro laude oppositi certent bicoloribus armis."

""Teach people to play new chess, right away. Why do you offer them a black and white television set, when there is a set in color?" in the only meeting with FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, responding to the latter advocating "step by step" changes mindful of the heritage of chess"

""I don't know when, but I think we are approaching that [the end of chess] very rapidly. I think we need a change in the rules of chess. For example, I think it would be a good idea to shuffle the first row of the pieces by computer ... and this way you will get rid of all the theory. One reason that computers are strong in chess is that they have access to enormous theory ... I think if you can turn off the computer's book, which I've done when I've played the computer, they are still rather weak, at least at the opening part of the game, so I think this would be a good improvement, and also just for humans. It is much better, I think, because chess is becoming more and more simply memorization, because the power of memorization is so tremendous in chess now. Theory is so advanced, it used to be theory to maybe 10 or 15 moves, 18 moves; now, theory is going to 30 moves, 40 moves. I think I saw one game in Informator, the Yugoslav chess publication, where they give an N [theoretical novelty] to a new move, and I recall this new move was around move 50. ... I think it is true, we are coming to the end of the history of chess with the present rules, but I don't say we have to do away with the present rules. I mean, people can still play, but I think it's time for those who want to start playing on new rules that I think are better." (September 1, 1992)"

""The old chess is you're banging your head against the wall with this theory. (...) You were trying to find some little improvement on move 18 or 20. It's ridiculous. It gets harder and harder and harder. You need more and more computers. You need more and more people working for you." 2005"

""I love chess, and I didn't invent Fischer Random chess to destroy chess. I invented Fischer Random chess to keep chess going. Because I consider the old chess is dying, it really is dead. A lot of people come up with other rules of chess-type games, with 10×8 boards, new pieces, and all kinds of things. I'm really not interested in that. I want to keep the old chess flavor. I want to keep the old chess game. But just making a change so the starting positions are mixed, so it's not degenerated down to memorization and prearrangement like it is today." Radio Interview, June 27, 1999 (see 2:18–3:03) (also see here 39:04–39:49) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2344&v=eMTbSfBvC7c"

"But the point about Fischer Random is that it’s basically the same as the old chess, except that you get rid of the theory, and it’s very easy to remember the rules. That’s my point, you see? I was just looking at a book Sam just gave me. This book about Capablanca. Capablanca had a very interesting game that he proposed. It was 10X10 or something and it had two Kings and extra pieces and you can win the game by mating either of your opponent’s Kings. And it looked like a very creative game, and maybe much better than Fischer Random, but it looks very intimidating. Even for me, right? Top chess player. Very intimidating. All these extra pieces, huge board, two Kings. And if it intimidates me, it will intimidate the average person much more. So there are a lot of games that you can come up with that have practical defects. Not creative defects. But just defects in terms of discouraging people to learn them. You see? That’s my point about Fischer Random. You can learn Fischer Random in 10 seconds, practically. So there is no impediment: you have the same pieces, the same board, all you have to do is get a little electronic shuffler, and in one second you have a position. But of course you could create more creative games than Fischer Random. Maybe, you know, an extra piece, a bigger board, and all kind of things. But my idea... people think I’m anti-chess. No, I’m not anti-chess. I'm pro-chess. I’m trying to keep it alive. It’s just the reverse! I’m not coming up with anything radical at all.(2005)"

""I think in general the future of classical chess as it is now is a little bit dubious. I would love to see more Fischer [Random] Chess being played over-the-board in a classical format. That would be very interesting to me, because I feel that that particular format is pretty well suited to classical chess as basically you need a lot of time in order to be able to play the game even remotely decently. And you can see that in the way that Fischer [Random] Chess is being played now when it is played in a rapid format. The quality of the games isn't very high because we make such fundamental mistakes in the opening. We don't understand it nearly enough and I think that would increase a lot if we were given a classical time control there. So I would definitely hope for that." — Magnus Carlsen, November 2020"

""I'm certainly somebody who hopes for more 960 in classical format because I feel like 960 is not that suited to rapid and blitz because you're just gonna play too poorly. You're just gonna have absolutely no clue, but if you actually have time to sit down and think for half an hour on your first five moves, then maybe you can get some more understanding of the game."— Magnus Carlsen, in a stream with Eric Hansen, April 2021"

""(...) of the leading players (...) one third is interested in it and simply lacks fitting tournaments. There have been quite some tournaments which have shown that when the conditions are similar to other tournaments, many leading players are glad to play Chess960. The former Chess Classic Mainz tournaments, the World Chess960 Championship 2019, as well as the local Chess960 Titled Arenas and other events document that there is no lack of interest in Chess960 among the players.— David Navara, November 2021"

""With the advancement in computers, I predicted that maybe 50 years from now, there won't be any more high-level professional chess. You know. Like chess will be so well-analyzed. (Nakamura: So you think within 50 years, we'll have to, like, move to 960 or something?) Yeah I think so. Yeah I feel within 50 or 70 years professional chess playing won't be as big as it is now."— Wesley So, in a stream with Hikaru Nakamura, December 2021"

"(In response to question: Actually i was wondering about this seeming catch-22 in 9LX. Which is it more of? A - there aren't many tournaments BECAUSE people aren't really interested B - there aren't many tournaments AND SO people aren't really interested?)"

""Most amateurs hate Chess 960 because it makes them feel stupid, but most Grandmasters love it because it makes them feel like amateurs again. It’s a chance for the chess elite to explore brand new worlds of wonderment and discovery." — Maurice Ashley, September 2022"

""This is like a dream come true for any chess player. I mean I understand that this is a chess player's chess. I understand maybe for public it's difficult to follow Fischer Random. But the amount of joy we get playing this, I don't know if anything can be compared." — Levon Aronian in an interview with Ioan-Cristian Chirilă, September 2022"

""You have chances with black all the time. And unlike in regular chess where with black you're really suffering, here you have a chance to take over because well as you see we make early mistakes all of us." — Levon Aronian in an interview with Ioan-Cristian Chirilă, September 2022"

""It's quite fun like to analyse the starting position with the guys around. And you know to come up with some opening concept. And that's probably what we never had a chance to do because we are born like now and not like 200 years ago." — Ian Nepomniachtchi in an interview with Ioan-Cristian Chirilă, September 2022"

""I like Fischer chess and it is pity that we don’t have many tournaments on it." — Sergey Karjakin, on the upcoming 2022 WFRCC, September 2022"

""There's no preparation. You just like sleep and go and play. I always felt like other physical sports they have this advantage (...) you just warm up your body before you go to the game. But in chess it's like you prepare, you look at lines (...) but in other sports you just like you get ready mentally more or just warm up a bit go. And in chess960, you can actually do that: (...) Stay sharp and just go. You don't have to like really check the lines." — Vidit Gujrathi in a stream with Ioan-Cristian Chirilă, Fabiano Caruana and Surya Shekhar Ganguly. November 2022"

""In my opinion, we should start moving towards Chess960, just like we started to generate energy with renewable energy sources a while ago. If we start now, then by the time it reaches a crisis point, we will have a viable alternative ready." — Srinath Narayanan, August 2017"

""Personally, It is refreshing to watch the Chess960 match between Carlsen and Nakamura. As a chess player and a fan, this is an exciting change. Could this be the future?" — Vidit Gujrathi, February 2018"

""I don't see any drawbacks in Fischer Random chess. The only slight shortcoming is the start position, otherwise there are just advantages. That's why I support it in full. If all the chess professionals played Fischer Random, our game could have been much more popular." — Alexander Grischuk, March 2018 [translated from Russian]"

""Random chess lets me enjoy myself and get publicity for chess without having to disrupt my life for months of preparation." — Garry Kasparov, August 2018"

""I think we're making theory or even making history because we're opening not even a new chapter but basically a new book on the game of chess. That's why I think all players are excited." — Garry Kasparov, September 2018"

""The computers are the ones that are creative, and the players we become robots."— Eugene Torre in an interview with Niklesh Jain in Chessbase India, March 2019"

""I think chess will become more popular if we have also the chess960."— Eugene Torre in an interview with Niklesh Jain in Chessbase India, March 2019"

""I feel like we are like children you know in elementary where you memorise things you know. And I'm already senior. I still have to review."— Eugene Torre in an interview with Niklesh Jain in Chessbase India, March 2019"

""My favorite form of chess is actually chess960. Because there's not much theory, not much preparation, it's very original. With the traditional format, the engines are just getting super strong, and it feels like you have to memorize the first 20-25 moves just to get a game. Bobby Fischer once said that the problem with chess is that you get the same exact starting position over and over. These days, there's 10 million games in the database already, so it's very hard to create original play, while chess960 is really your brain against mine. After the first or second move, you're already thinking." — Wesley So, April 2019"

""I enjoy playing this kind of chess very much because there is no theory, no knowledges. You just come, play and enjoy." — Sergey Karjakin, during the 2019 Chess 9LX tournament of the St Louis Chess Club, September 2019"

""To me, mainly chess is art — that's why I like Fischer Random a lot; there is a lot of creativity." — Wesley So, November 2019"

""I have to say that I love Chess960! I like to be creative and I really enjoy the Chess960 events in Mainz." — Alexandra Kosteniuk, August 2010"

""It's a game I really love and I see it as the future of chess. (...) The blitz time control destroys the whole advantage of the game over normal chess. The greatest pleasure in that form of chess is that you have to use your head from the very first move, while a lack of time forces you to act without thinking. (...) Fischer Random Chess is a fresh look at the game without a great loss of harmony." — Levon Aronian, July 2011"

""Fischer Random Chess is a great game! Creativity starts from the very first moves. If tournaments were held using it then I’d be happy to take part." — Sergey Karjakin, July 2011"

""I think chess960 is great as it is simply pure intuition and understanding without theory or computers. In my opinion, a lot depends on the trends. For example, at the moment everyone is playing the Berlin Defense which has severely reduced the number of games with 1.e4. If this trend of attempting to "kill" the excitement continues, it is hard to believe 960 won't take over at some point. However, if we start seeing a lot of deep preparation and exciting games in the Najdorf or Dragon, then I think the scope of normal chess will continue for a very long time." — Hikaru Nakamura, February 2014"

""Of course, if people do not want to do any work then it is better to start the game from a random position." —Garry Kasparov, December 2001"

""No more theory means more creativity." — Artur Yusupov"

""... the play is much improved over traditional chess because you don't need to analyze or memorize any book openings. Therefore, your play becomes truly creative and real." — Svetozar Gligorić"

""Finally, one is no longer obliged to spend the whole night long troubling oneself with the next opponent's opening moves. The best preparation consists just of sleeping well!" — Péter Lékó"

""The changes in chess concern the perfection of computers and the breakthrough of high technology. Under this influence the game is losing its charm and reducing more and more the number of creative players. ... I am a great advocate of Fischer's idea of completely changing the rules of chess, of creating a practically new game. It is the only way out, because then there would be no previous experience on which a machine could be programmed, at least until this new chess itself becomes exhausted. Fischer is a genius and I believe that his project would save the game." — Ljubomir Ljubojević"

""I don't enjoy (following chess960) as much as following a normal top event. Like, I like to play chess960, but I don't like to watch it so much. (...) It looks so weird, like the pieces (...), but to play it, it's fun (...) Also, it's very hard to follow afterwards." — Vidit Gujrathi in a stream with Ioan-Cristian Chirilă, Fabiano Caruana and Surya Shekhar Ganguly. November 2022"

""The opening decides everything. If you get a good position, it's very easy to play I mean: It's a lot of fun. You're just enjoying it. (...) But if you get a bad position right away it's very -- I mean, you're just like 'Why am I playing 960 instead of playing normal chess? I'd much rather just blitz out 20 moves of theory.'" — Hikaru Nakamura in an interview with Ioan-Cristian Chirilă, September 2022"

""I understand that some two-thirds of the leading players are not very interested in Chess960 and should not be forced to play it"— David Navara, November 2021"

""I think in classical chess there's a very healthy balance between uh talent and hard work and where how far each one will get you and as soon as you start shuffling the pieces to get rid of opening preparation and who's worked harder at that (...) the more talented people get a huge advantage compared to the harder working types we all know which category I sort of qualify myself in but uh well maybe I have to adjust that after a nice day today but yeah so in general uh I would definitely like to see more of these events but let's put it this way I would like to see more of these events without getting rid of classical events. I think as long as no classical events are harmed by it and removed but no it's a lot of fun for sure and uh while it might not be as serious it's definitely more fun all" — Sam Shankland in an interview with Maurice Ashley, September 2021"

""Chess is already complicated enough." — Vassily Ivanchuk"

""I tried many different starting positions and all these were somehow very unharmonious. And this is not surprising as in many of these positions there is immediate forced play: the pieces are placed so badly at the start that there is a need to improve their positions in one way only, which decreases the number of choices." — Vladimir Kramnik [translated from Russian]"

""Fischer Random is an interesting format, but it has its drawbacks. In particular, the nontraditional starting positions make it difficult for many amateurs to enjoy the game until more familiar positions are achieved. The same is true for world-class players, as many have confessed to me privately. Finally, it also seems to lack an aesthetic quality found in traditional chess, which makes it less appealing for both players and viewers, even if it does occasionally result in an exciting game." — Vladimir Kramnik"