David Bronstein Quotes

The most powerful weapon in Chess is to have the next move

In chess, as in life, opportunity strikes but once.

To lose one's objective attitude to a position, nearly always means ruining your game.

The essence of Chess is thinking about what Chess is.

A game of chess is not an examination of knowledge; it is a battle of nerves.

When you play against an experienced opponent who exploits all the defensive resources at his command you sometimes have to walk time and again, along the narrow path of 'the only move'.

Chess is imagination.

Nowadays grandmasters no longer study their opponent's games so much, but they study his character, his behaviour and his temperament in the most thorough fashion.

Far from all of the obvious moves that go without saying are correct.

Theory regards this opening as incorrect, but it is impossible to agree with this. Out of the five tournament games played by me with the King's Gambit, I have won all five.

Even in the heat of a middlegame battle the master still has to bear in mind the outlines of a possible future ending.

But whatever you might say and whatever I might say, a machine which can play chess with people is one of the most marvellous wonders of our 20th century!

In the middlegame one should not hesitate to advance a central passed pawn.

What the devil possessed me to reply 1. ... e5?? I compltely forgot that Spassky, like Spielmann in the past, very much likes to play the King's Gambit.

When everything on the board is clear it can be so difficult to conceal your thoughts from your opponent.

Chess is infinite, and one has to make only one ill-considered move, and one's opponent's wildest dreams will become reality.

It would be as naive to study the song of the nightingale, as it would be ridiculous to try and win a King's Gambit against a representative of the old chess guard.

Independence of thought is a most valuable quality in a chess-player, both at the board and when preparing for a game.

Some pieces in the King's Indian appear on a 'special price' list: the dark square bishops are at the top of that list.

There is not a single true chess-player in the world whose heart does not beat faster at the mere sound of such long beloved and familiar words as 'gambit games'.

To play a match for the World Championship is the cherished dream of every chess player.

Two passed pawns advancing on the enemy pieces have brought me more than a dozen points in tournaments.