Chess is not for the faint-hearted; it absorbs a person entirely. To get to the bottom of this game, he has to give himself up into slavery. Chess is difficult, it demands work, serious reflection and zealous research.

Have you ever seen a monkey examining a watch?

Unfortunately, many regard the critic as an enemy, instead of seeing him as a guide to the truth.

I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings

The task of the positional player is systematically to accumulate slight advantages and try to convert temporary advantages into permanent ones, otherwise the player with the better position runs the risk of losing it.

I may be an old lion, but I can still bite someone's hand off if he puts it in my mouth.

I am fully and entirely concentrated on the board. I never even consider my opponent's personality. So far as I am concerned, my opponent might as well be an abstraction or an automaton.