Politicians From Armenia

"Great leaders are formed only by taking on great challenges."

"The NSA is to the Stasi what a bad hotel is to a maximum security prison."

"You can get quite far in a democracy if you can convince a majority that they are victims of a minority, and that only you can protect them."

"The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth."

"[C]hess was treated by the Soviet authorities as a very important and useful ideological tool to demonstrate the intellectual superiority of the Soviet communist regime over the decadent West."

""Socialism with a human face"? ... Frankenstein also had a human face."

"I was almost annoyed hearing that Putin plays chess and Obama or other leaders of the free world they play checkers. I thought I had to defend the integrity of my game because chess 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."

"[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."

"[I]t's very important to understand that this is the dictators always operate short-term, and democracies must operate long-term because it’s not about one individual who’s currently running the country, whether it’s president or prime minister. It’s about the success of the country. It’s about the success of the system. It’s about pressing, you know, all advantages and their strategic, lasting institutions that could make the difference even when the president or prime minister is no longer in the office."

"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."

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

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

"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."

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

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

"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."

"It's not enough to be talented. It's not enough to work hard and to study late into the night. You must also become intimately aware of the methods you use to reach your decisions."

"Having spent a lifetime analyzing the game of chess and comparing the capacity of computers to the capacity of the human brain, I've often wondered, where does our success come from? The answer is synthesis, the ability to combine creativity and calculation, art and science, into a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. Chess is a unique cognitive nexus, a place where art and science come together in the human mind, and are then refined and improved by experience."

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

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

"Every country has its own mafia. In Russia, the mafia has its own country."

"My nature is that I have to excite myself with a big challenge."

"In conclusion, if you want to unravel the multitude of secrets of chess then don't begrudge the time."

"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."

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

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