like the 64 squares of a chess board.
- I don't believe in psychology. I believe in good moves.
- All that matters on the chessboard is good moves.
- You can only get good at chess if you love the game.
- I give 98 percent of my mental energy to chess. Others give only 2 percent.
- Your body has to be in top condition. Your chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate body from mind.
- Psychologically, you have to have confidence in yourself and this confidence should be based on fact.
- Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent's mind.
- You have to have the fighting spirit. You have to force moves and take chances.
- That's what chess is all about. One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one.
- There are tough players and nice guys, and I'm a tough player.
- Chess is a matter of delicate judgment, knowing when to punch and how to duck.
- I know people who have all the will in the world, but still can't play good chess.
- The Russians have fixed world chess.
- You know I'm finished with the old chess because it's all just a lot of book and memorization you know.
- The old chess is too limited. Imagine playing cards, black jack for example, and every time the dealer has the same starting hand you have the same starting hand. What's the point?
- I have nothing to do with politics. I came here (Yugoslavia) to play chess and nothing else.
- I despise the media.
- I think it's almost definite that the game is a draw theoretically.
- Best by test.
- Concentrate on material gains. Whatever your opponent gives you take, unless you see a good reason not to.
- I don't like American girls. They're very conceited, you know. In Europe they're more pleasant.
- I don't keep any close friends. I don't keep any secrets. I don't need friends. I just tell everybody everything, that's all.
- Yeah, I used to dress badly until I was about sixteen. But people just didn't seem to have enough respect for me, you know And I didn't like that, so I decided I'd have to show them they weren't any better than me, you know? They were sort of priding themselves. They would say, 'He beat us at chess, but he's still just an uncouth kid.' So I decided to dress up.
- You don't learn anything in school. It's just a waste of time. You lug around books and all and do homework. They give too much homework. You shouldn't be doing homework. Nobody's interested in it. The teachers are stupid. They shouldn't have any women in there. They don't know how to teach. And they shouldn't make anyone go to school. You don't want to go, you don't go, that's all. It's ridiculous. I don't remember one thing I learned in school. I don't listen to weakies. My two and a half years in Erasmus High I wasted. I didn't like the whole thing. You have to mix with all those stupid kids. The teachers are even stupider than the kids. They talk down to the kids. Half of them are crazy. If they'd have let me, I would have quit before I was sixteen.
- My sister bought me a set at a candy store and taught me the moves.
- Well, you know, in America everybody is interested in making the dollar fast. In Yugoslavia no matter how much you hustle you're not going to get rich, so you might as well play chess.
- I object to being called a chess genius, because I consider myself to be an all around genius, who just happens to play chess, which is rather different. A piece of garbage like Kasparov might be called a chess genius, but he is like an idiot savant, outside of chess he knows nothing.
- Most people are sheep, and they need the support of others.
- Church members shouldn't let themselves be confused. They begin not trusting in their own judgment, and then they're finished. That's a terrible, terrible thing. First, they get conducted in with a nice sweet program, no money, everything free, free, free. And then they get sucked in, and suddenly a few lies get mixed in. They are told that their human nature is wicked and these nice people who gave them all these things wouldn't be lying to them, would they? And then I think once you start distrusting your own mind you're finished. From there you just get more and more confused. Once you think that your own mind is not your friend any more-your own conscience and your own mind is not your friend-then I think you are on your way to insanity. You have been stripped bare. All your defenses are gone.
:: Bobby Fischer
- It began to feel as though you were playing against chess itself.
:: Walter Shipman (on playing against Fischer)
