Mikhail Tal Quotes

25 quotes in 360 categories

• Without technique it is impossible to reach the top in chess, and therefore we all try to borrow from Capablanca his wonderful, subtle technique.
• Later, I began to succeed in decisive games. Perhaps because I realized a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but also my opponent
• Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine
• There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine
• 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
• It is difficult to play against Einstein's theory -on his first loss to Fischer
• When I asked Fischer why he had not played a certain move in our game, he replied: 'Well, you laughed when I wrote it down!'
• Botvinnik's right! When he says such things, then he's right. Usually, I prefer not to study chess but to play it. For me chess is…
• It's funny, but many people don't understand why I draw so many games nowadays. They think my style must have changed but this is not…
• Just as one's imagination is stirred by a girl's smile, so is one's imagination stirred by the possibilities of chess.
• I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind.
• To play for a draw (at any rate with White) is to some degree a crime against chess.
• If (Black) is going for victory, he is practically forced to allow his opponent to get some kind of well-known positional advantage.
• I believe most definitely that one must not only grapple with the problems on the board, one must also make every effort to combat the…
• Naturally, the psychological susceptibility of a match participant is significantly higher than a participant in a tournament, since each game substantially changes the over-all position.
• In my games I have sometimes found a combination intuitively simply feeling that it must be there. Yet I was not able to translate my…
• Many Chess players were surprised when after the game, Fischer quietly explained: 'I had already analyzed this possibility' in a position which I thought was…
• For pleasure you can read the games collections of Andersson and Chigorin, but for benefit you should study Tarrasch, Keres and Bronstein.
• Of course, errors are not good for a chess game, but errors are unavoidable and in any case, a game without ant errors, or as…
• Quiet moves often make a stronger impression than a wild combination with heavy sacrifices.

Browse Mikhail Tal Quotes by Category