Avoidance of mistakes is the beginning, as it is the end, of mastery in chess.
Haste, the great enemy.
A defeatist spirit must inevitably lead to disaster.
Chess is a game of understanding and not of memory.
It would be idle, and presumptuous, to wish to imitate the achievements of a Morphy or an Alekhine; but their methods and their manner of expressing themselves are within the reach of all.
The middlegame I repeat is chess itself, chess with all its possibilities, its attacks, defences, sacrifices, etc.