Garry Kasparov Quotes & Sayings

Vladimir Putin uses fascist propaganda to do so. From Ukraine to Syria, he is behaving like the world's new general and celebrating victories, while the American president sits on the sidelines and Europe sleeps. The West's behavior toward Putin is political and moral capitulation. — Garry Kasparov

At the end of the day, it's all about money. — Garry Kasparov

It could truly be the case that Vladimir Putin has miscalculated in the long term with his adventure in Syria. — Garry Kasparov

Throughout my chess career I sought out new challenges, looking for things no one had done before. — Garry Kasparov

Ultimately, what separates a Winner from a Loser at the Grandmaster level is the Willingness to do the Unthinkable. — Garry Kasparov

Few things are as psychologically brutal as chess. — Garry Kasparov

I learned that fighting on the chess board could also have an impact on the political climate in the country. — Garry Kasparov

I think we have very steady records of President Putin, who inherited the country with democratic values. — Garry Kasparov

Nowadays games immediately appear on the Internet and thus the life of novelties is measured in hours. Modern professionals do not have the right to be forgetful - it is 'life threatening'. — Garry Kasparov

It's not enough to be talented. It's not enough to work hard and to study late into the night. You must also become intimately aware of the methods you use to reach your decisions. — Garry Kasparov

I'm a firm a believer in the power of free enterprise to move the world forward. All that Soviet respect for science was no match for the American innovation machine once unleashed. The problem comes when the government is inhibiting innovation with overregulation and short-sighted policy. Trade wars and restrictive immigration regulations will limit America's ability to attract the best and brightest minds, minds needed for this and every forthcoming Sputnik moment. — Garry Kasparov

A brilliant strategy is, certainly, a matter of intelligence, but intelligence without audaciousness is not enough. — Garry Kasparov

Telling Ukrainians they provoked Putin by rejecting him and moving toward Europe is like telling a harassed woman she should wear longer skirts. Do not lose sight of who is the offender and who is the victim! — Garry Kasparov

I have some security that could protect me against provocations but of course there are more terrible actions that could not be stopped by any security. — Garry Kasparov

If you make a decision to fight for future of your own country you have to consider all the consequences. — Garry Kasparov

I want to serve chess through games, books that are works of art. I would like to bring the game closer to many people all over the world. — Garry Kasparov

Moscow is simply unwilling to recognize the right of self-determination of nations. — Garry Kasparov

I don't make any secret of the fact that I'm closer to the Republicans than to the Democrats. But even under a President Hillary Clinton, US foreign policy toward Moscow would probably be more critical and confrontational. I hope it isn't too late for that. — Garry Kasparov

[Vladimir] Putin needs wars to legitimize his position. — Garry Kasparov

For inspiration I look to those great players who consistently found original ways to shock their opponents. None did this better than the eighth world champion, Mikhail Tal. The "Magician of Riga" rose to become champion in 1960 at age twenty-three and became famous for his aggressive, volatile play. — Garry Kasparov

Chess is life in miniature. Chess is struggle, chess is battles — Garry Kasparov

Everyone, at any age, has talents that aren't fully developed-even those who reach the top of their profession. — Garry Kasparov

My love of dynamic complications often led me to avoid simplicity when perhaps it was the wisest choice. — Garry Kasparov

It is better to have a bad plan than no plan. — Garry Kasparov

Like Dvoretsky, I think that (all other things being equal), the analytical method of studying chess must give you a colossal advantage over the chess pragmatist, and that there can be no certainty in chess without analysis. I personally acquired these views from my sessions with Mikhail Botvinnik, and they laid the foundations of my chess-playing life. — Garry Kasparov

A game of chess holds many secrets. Fortunately! That is why we cannot clearly state whether chess is science, art, or a sport. — Garry Kasparov

I have some strategical vision, I could calculate some few moves ahead and I have an intellect that is badly missed in the country which is run by generals and colonels. — Garry Kasparov

By strictly observing Botvinnik's rule regarding the thorough analysis of one's own games, with the years I have come to realize that this provides the foundation for the continuous development of chess mastery. — Garry Kasparov

Chess continues to advance over time, so the players of the future will inevitably surpass me in the quality of their play, assuming the rules and regulations allow them to play serious chess. But it will likely be a long time before anyone spends 20 consecutive years as number, one as I did. — Garry Kasparov

There are many ways of showing your protest and discontent without the actions of Kremlin. — Garry Kasparov

Chess strength in general and chess strength in a specific match are by no means one and the same thing. — Garry Kasparov

Chess is a unique cognitive nexus, a place where art and science come together in the human mind and are then refined and improved by experience. — Garry Kasparov

Tactics involve calculations that can tax the human brain, but when you boil them down, they are actually the simplest part of chess and are almost trivial compared to strategy. — Garry Kasparov

the gravity of past success. — Garry Kasparov

I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy. — Garry Kasparov

Nowadays, a 13-year-old would probably know more than Bobby Fischer knew when he retired. They analyse all the moves and prepare themselves on their computers. But that doesn't mean they are special. — Garry Kasparov

The worst enemy of the strategist is the clock. Time trouble ... Reduces us all to pure reflex and reaction, tactical play. Emotion and instinct cloud our strategic vision when there is no time for proper evaluation. — Garry Kasparov

Ironically, the main task of chess software companies today is to find ways to make the program weaker, not stronger, and to provide enough options that any user can pick from different levels and the machine will try to make enough mistakes to give him a chance. — Garry Kasparov

It is foolish to let down our defenses against an attack simply because we will be in the moral right should that attack come. — Garry Kasparov

Attackers may sometimes regret bad moves, but it is much worse to forever regret an opportunity you allowed to pass you by. — Garry Kasparov

What did disappear - or, at least, what faded dramatically - was the willingness of the free world to take a firm stand in support of the oppressed. — Garry Kasparov

Excelling at chess has long been considered a symbol of more general intelligence. That is an incorrect assumption in my view, as pleasant as it might be. — Garry Kasparov

Chess is far too complex to be definitively solved with any technology we can conceive of today. However, our looked-down-upon cousin, checkers, or draughts, suffered this fate quite recently thanks to the work of Jonathan Schaeffer at the University of Alberta and his unbeatable program Chinook. — Garry Kasparov

The Russian Dept of Tourism has declared Ukraine its most dangerous destination. Many Russian tourists have disappeared there. — Garry Kasparov

You cannot say, 'Go! Go! Rah! Rah! Good move!' People want some emotion. Chess is an art and not a spectator sport. — Garry Kasparov

To become good at anything you have to know how to apply basic principles. To become great at it, you have to know when to violate those principles. — Garry Kasparov

I try to play, always, beautiful games ... always I wanted to create masterpieces. — Garry Kasparov

Chess is a unique battlefield for human minds and computers - human intuition, our creativity, fantasy, our logic, versus the brute force of calculation and a very small portion of accumulated knowledge infused by other human beings. So in chess we can compare these two incompatible things and probably make projections into our future. Is there danger that the human mind will be overshadowed by the power of computers, or we can still survive? — Garry Kasparov

The ability to work hard for days on end without losing focus is a talent. The ability to keep absorbing new information after many hours of study is a talent. — Garry Kasparov

Capablanca possessed an amazing ability to quickly see into a position and intuitively grasp its main features. His style, one of the purest, most crystal-clear in the entire history of chess, astonishes one with his logic. — Garry Kasparov

By this measure (on the gap between Fischer & his contemporaries), I consider him the greatest world champion — Garry Kasparov

I wouldn't place much stock in numbers. I don't believe that they reflect Putin's true popularity. Just think about how the pollsters proceed. They call people and they ask them questions on the street. In today's Russia, it takes a lot of courage to tell a stranger something critical about the head of the Kremlin. And yet more than 20 percent do so nonetheless. — Garry Kasparov

The reality is that most consumers in the developed world would rather not know where their phones and gas come from as long as the prices are low. If you know, you must act, so it is better not to know. The occasional scandal over inhuman working conditions in Chinese factories (or women's rights in Saudi Arabia) allows some liberals to feel better when a Nike or Apple announces an investigation that is quickly forgotten by the time the next shoe or gadget comes out. — Garry Kasparov

Question the status quo at all times, especially when things are going well. — Garry Kasparov

We think about time as something not to waste, not as something to invest. — Garry Kasparov

Thanks to the Polgars the adjective 'men's' before events and the 'affirmative action' women's titles such as Woman Grandmaster have become anachronisms. — Garry Kasparov

There are fixed rules in chess, and no one knows how the game will end. — Garry Kasparov

Russia was allowed to inherit the Soviet Union's seat on the UN Security Council when that organization, which had been designed to preserve the Cold War status quo, should instead have been reformed to reflect the new primacy of the free world. — Garry Kasparov

It was not about losing my mental power; it's about not feeling good about my contribution to the game. — Garry Kasparov

If you don't take risks, you don't drink champagne. — Garry Kasparov

Things are currently the other way around in [Vladimir] Putin's realm. But it won't stay that way forever. — Garry Kasparov

The real political life in Russia unfortunately is not in the parliament but on the streets and in the media. — Garry Kasparov

I think that it's a vital moment now for Russian democracy to convince people that it's only our actions, our joined actions and protests that could force Kremlin to reconsider its plans to abolish presidential elections. — Garry Kasparov

Chess is not dominoes — Garry Kasparov

History does not end; it runs in cycles. The failure to defend Ukraine today is the failure of the Allies to defend Czechoslovakia in 1938. The world must act now so that Poland in 2015 will not be called on to play the role of Poland in 1939. — Garry Kasparov

Chess is one of the few arts where composition takes place simultaneously with performance — Garry Kasparov

Putin recognized that if he could get enough money, everything would be under control. — Garry Kasparov

If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure. — Garry Kasparov

Millions like me in Russia want a free press, the rule of law, social justice, and free and fair elections. My new job is to fight for those people and to fight for these fundamental rights. — Garry Kasparov

I've seen - both in myself and my competitors - how satisfaction can lead to a lack of vigilance, then to mistakes and missed opportunities. — Garry Kasparov

This obligation to move can be a burden to a player without strategic vision. — Garry Kasparov

Vladimir Putin mainly has friends in Europe among the extreme right, such as Marine Le Pen's Front National in France. — Garry Kasparov

Putin is like Al Capone. — Garry Kasparov

Kortchnoi's heritage is many-faceted - over the decades he has several times corrected and changed his style. But the main thing has invariably remained his search for chess truth. — Garry Kasparov

In conclusion, if you want to unravel the multitude of secrets of chess then don't begrudge the time. — Garry Kasparov

When I was preparing for one term's work in the Botvinnik school I had to spend a lot of time on king and pawn endings. So when I came to a tricky position in my own games I knew the winning method. — Garry Kasparov

A championship contender in the early twentieth century needed charisma and a knack for cultivating sponsorship, and Rubinstein was the epitome of the shy and unsocial chess player. Now matter how great his chess skills, he lacked the people skills to be a self-promoter and fund-raiser. — Garry Kasparov

Solving new problems is what keeps us moving forward as individuals and as a society, so don't back down. — Garry Kasparov

Caissa, the goddess of chess, had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my nature. — Garry Kasparov

When you say politics, you conjure a whole bunch of associations: elections, campaigning, debates, fundraising. None of this exists in Russia! We are still fighting not for election victories but for having elections at all. — Garry Kasparov

I'm not saying that George W. Bush did everything right. But even if you take a skeptical view of his Iraq war, [Barack] Obama made the more serious error of withdrawing his troops from Iraq early. — Garry Kasparov

Tarrasch's 'dogmas' are not eternal truisms, but merely instructional material presented in an accessible and witty form, those necessary rudiments from which one can begin to grasp the secrets of chess ... — Garry Kasparov

Women, by their nature, are not exceptional chess players: they are not great fighters. — Garry Kasparov

We have to always look ahead enough moves to be well prepared, even for victory! — Garry Kasparov

We've been saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn't care about the law. — Garry Kasparov

We have to stop the propaganda, the shameful propaganda used by Kremlin to rehabilitate these old types. — Garry Kasparov

Democracies get the leaders they deserve, as — Garry Kasparov

In general there is something puzzling about the fact that the most renowned figures in chess - Morphy, Pillsbury, Capablanca and Fischer - were born in America. — Garry Kasparov

I am lucky, .. that the popular sport in the Soviet Union was chess and not baseball. — Garry Kasparov

Perfectly correct chess exists only in theory. — Garry Kasparov

When the Soviet sports authorities attacked me for wanting to retain my chess winnings, they condemned not only my disobedience, but my lack of socialist solidarity. For me to say that my neighbors in Baku should see my keeping the Mercedes I won in Germany as normal, healthy thinking was radical and subversive. — Garry Kasparov

There are many facts showing that Putin's people enriched themselves by using power mechanisms so that's why for them losing power means losing their fortunes. — Garry Kasparov

It didn't take long to recognise the shortcomings of the Soviet regime and to see the values of the free world. — Garry Kasparov

I don't really like discussions about a supposed Russian national character. — Garry Kasparov

Boris Vasilievich was the only top-class player of his generation who played gambits regularly and without fear ... Over a period of 30 years he did not lose a single game with the King's Gambit, and among those defeated were numerous strong players of all generations, from Averbakh, Bronstein and Fischer, to Seirawan. — Garry Kasparov

A moral foreign policy means your positions on certain matters are clear no matter what, and that you won't forget about them when it's convenient. — Garry Kasparov

It's quite difficult for me to imagine my life without chess. — Garry Kasparov

Many politicians in the West cling to the notion of a partnership with Russia. They want to include [Vladimir] Putin, make compromises and constantly negotiate new deals with him. But history has taught us that the longer we pursue appeasement and do nothing, the higher the price will be later on. Dictators don't ask "Why?" before they seize even more power. They ask: "Why not?" — Garry Kasparov

If you're already in a fight, you want the first blow to be the last and you had better be the one to throw it. — Garry Kasparov

The legend of the best player of chess has been destroyed. — Garry Kasparov