Korchnoi Versus Quotes & Sayings

The only positive contribution to chess from Fischer in the last 20 years. — Viktor Korchnoi

The whole life with a wife is like an end game with two bishops of different colors. — Viktor Korchnoi

Why should I not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside, looking into the shining world? — Mary Oliver

I had changed, and the sign of it was only that my own death seemed to me by far the least important thing in my life. — Wendell Berry

Every time I win a tournament I have to think that there is something wrong with modern chess. — Viktor Korchnoi

Butterflies ... not quite birds, as they were not quite flowers, mysterious and fascinating as are all indeterminate creatures — Elizabeth Goudge

It is a gross overstatement, but in chess, it can be said I play against my opponent over the board and against myself on the clock. — Viktor Korchnoi

Comedy ages quicker than tragedy, to the extent that we can't know if the 10 commandments may originally have been 10 hilarious one-liners. — Arthur Smith

As a rule, the more mistakes there are in a game, the more memorable it remains, because you have suffered and worried over each mistake at the board. — Viktor Korchnoi

The aim was simple: to deprive Karpov of his favourite occupation - standing at the board, staring straight at his opponent. While I was wearing these glasses, all he could admire was his own reflection. — Viktor Korchnoi

The human element, the human flaw and the human nobility - those are the reasons that chess matches are won or lost. — Viktor Korchnoi

Those who think that it is easy to play chess are mistaken. During a game a player lives on his nerves, and at the same time he must be perfectly composed. — Viktor Korchnoi

If only it were possible for us to see farther than our knowledge reaches, and even a little beyond the outworks of our presentiment, perhaps we would bear our sadnesses with greater trust than we have in our joys. — Rainer Maria Rilke

Chess you don't learn, chess you understand. — Viktor Korchnoi

Trial by jury is a wise distribution of power which exceeds all other modes of trial. — Edward Coke

You aren't always going to make stuff that everybody does. The sooner that you just realize that and accept that, the better. At best, hopefully, you will like it, every time, and that might not even happen. It's the nature of your work. It's just what comes with it. So, it makes it easier to deal with anybody criticizing you or anything thinking you're wonderful when you realize that you just need to focus in this one area, which is your creative fulfillment and enjoyment. — Sharlto Copley

Sometimes I even say that I have surpassed Lasker in using psychology. How? Well, sometimes I use psychology with a portion of risk. That is something else, something that Lasker wouldn't allow. — Viktor Korchnoi

[Harry] Kasparov and [Anatoly] Karpov have something in common. They both want to become deputies of the Russian State Duma. — Viktor Korchnoi

All obvious moves look dubious in analysis after the game. — Viktor Korchnoi

When you're on TV, you come into people's homes. In theater and film, they go to you - to the temple of the cinema or theater. And it's very different. — Alan Cumming

Chess players, people who travel all over the world, should be trusted or else not sent anywhere at all. Why are these four people (Antoshion and three other official 'minders') sent along to supervise us? With their meagre experience, all that thay did was interfere, more than ever before. And when they were needed, they weren't to be found ... — Viktor Korchnoi

No Chess Grandmaster is normal; they only differ in the extent of their madness — Viktor Korchnoi

It is unpleasant for the players, when the organizers arrange for play to take place in the morning. The games from such last rounds, in view of the large number of mistakes, are not fit for publication! — Viktor Korchnoi

There's nothing wrong with being proud of who you are. It's a wonderful thing. — Matthew Moy

Skeletons of mice are often to be found in coconuts, for it is easier to get in, slim and greedy, than to get out, appeased but fat. — Viktor Korchnoi

Karpov, Kasparov, Korchnoi have absolutely destroyed chess by their immoral, unethical, prearranged games. These guys are really the lowest dogs around, and if people knew the truth about them, they would be held in more contempt than Ben Johnson, the runner, and they're going to know the truth when I do this book! — Bobby Fischer

I don't study; I create. — Viktor Korchnoi