It is a delight to watch a young and gifted chess player. To him have come no sinister experiences; to him continual carping care is foreign. Therefore he loves the attack and the bold sacrifice; for theirin lies the shortest way to his ultimate objective.

Chess was Capablanca's mother tongue.

The essential disadvantage of the isolated pawn ... lies not in the pawn itself, but in the square in front of the pawn.

The scheme of a game is played on positional lines; the decision of it, as a rule, is effected by combinations.

The pleasure to be derived from a chess combination lie in the feeling that a human mind is behind the game, dominating the inanimate pieces ... and giving them breath of life.

Those chess lovers who ask me how many moves I usually calculate in advance, when making a combination, are always astonished when I reply, quite truthfully, 'as a rule not a single one'

Chess is a fighting game which is purely intellectual and includes chance.