I cannot think that a player genuinely loving the game can get pleasure just from the number of points scored no matter how impressive the total. I will not speak of myself, but for the masters of the older generation, from whose games we learned, the aesthetic side was the most important. -

Anyone who wishes to learn how to play chess well must make himself or herself thoroughly conversant with the play in positions where the players have castled on opposite sides.

My achievements in the field of chess are the result of immense hard work in studying theory.

The placing of the centre pawns determines the "topography" of a game of chess.

You must not let your opponent know how you feel.

Just as the pianist practices the most complicated pieces to improve the technique of his fingers, so too a grandmaster must keep his vision in trim by daily analysis of positions with sharp possibilities, and this applies whether he prefers such positions in his play or not.

Once we have chosen the right formation in the centre we have created opportunities for our pieces and laid the foundation of subsequent victory.