Garry Kasparov

"With each success the ability to change is reduced. My longtime friend and coach Grandmaster Yuri Dokhoian, aptly compared it to being dipped in bronze. Each victory added another coat."

"This obligation to move can be a burden to a player without strategic vision."

"You must also have a sense of when to stop."

"For inspiration I look to those great players who consistently found original ways to shock their opponents. None did this better than the eighth world champion, Mikhail Tal. The "Magician of Riga" rose to become champion in 1960 at age twenty-three and became famous for his aggressive, volatile play."

"Everyone, at any age, has talents that aren't fully developed-even those who reach the top of their profession."

"We think about time as something not to waste, not as something to invest."

"In chess, bigamy is acceptable but monarchy is absolute."

"I like to say that the attacker always has the advantage."

"If you're already in a fight, you want the first blow to be the last and you had better be the one to throw it."

"Question the status quo at all times, especially when things are going well."

"Solving new problems is what keeps us moving forward as individuals and as a society, so don't back down."

"Caissa, the goddess of chess, had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my nature."

"Millions like me in Russia want a free press, the rule of law, social justice, and free and fair elections. My new job is to fight for those people and to fight for these fundamental rights."

"We have to always look ahead enough moves to be well prepared, even for victory!"

"Allow dissent & free media for 6 months in Russia and see what happens. Putin would never risk it because he’s terrified of his own people and the truth, like every dictator."

"The leaders of the free world keep lowering their standards and authoritarians keep taking more territory. Eventually people wake up and ask why Putin murders in the UK or hacks in the US. Why wouldn’t he? You didn’t stop him before."

"People ask about dictators, "Why?" But dictators themselves ask, "Why not?""

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

"Somehow people always forget that it's much easier to install a dictator than to remove one."

"Each victory pulls the victor down slightly and makes it harder to put in maximum effort to improve further."

"The United States is a very different thing. It's a continent-spanning nation built from scratch by millions of immigrants from every part of the world on top of its native population."

"Anatoly Karpov and I donated the prize fund from our 1986 world championship match to the Chernobyl victim relief fund."

"Communism is like an autoimmune disorder; it doesn't do the killing itself, but it weakens the system so much that the victim is left helpless and unable to fight off anything else."

"We must decide what we value and decide what is worth fighting for and then–the most important part–we must fight for it."

"Reforms are only institutional if they have a real effect on how people live."

"The public must come to see that chess is a violent sport. Chess is mental torture."