Chess quote

Former World Chess Championship Challenger Nigel Short has written his first book, Winning. The English Chess Federation selected Winning as one of four books under consideration for its 2021 “Book of the Year.” Although Winning did not win, it got a special mention. Like Nigel Short the chess commentator, Nigel Short the chess writer is educational and entertaining.Don’t Stop Me NowEach chapter of Short’s book is named after a song. Quality Chess provides a PDF excerpt from the chapter named after Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. Some of its lyrics are “I’m having such a good time. I’m having a ball. (Don’t stop me now).” That’s how I felt when I watched Nigel Short commentate for FIDE on the January 2020 Women’s World Chess Championship. Often, I would stay awake from 11:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. to watch live, even though FIDE also archives broadcasts on YouTube.In addition to explaining openings, strategy, tactics, and endgames, Short shared his views without hesitation. For example, he discussed his motion to ban smoking in all FIDE tournament areas, including break areas, and his thoughts on transgender competitors. He said he might become “Nigella” so he could play for the Women’s World Chess Championship, as alluded to in this Tweet. Was he making a joke? Maybe, and I felt compelled to keep watching so I wouldn’t miss any of the fun. It seemed like Short enjoyed commentating as much as I enjoyed watching him. He was, to quote Queen’s lyrics, “having a ball.”Openings and

Effect of prudence, or the want of it.”Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Statesman, philosopher, inventor, scientist, musician, economist“Daring ideas are like chessmen moving forward; they may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.”Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, dramatist“The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem. …I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.”Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), French Artist“You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas.”Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), Filmmaker, producer“Chess teaches foresight, by having to plan ahead; vigilance, by having to keep watch over the whole chess board; caution, by having to restrain ourselves from making hasty moves; and finally, we learn from chess the greatest maxim in life – that even when everything seems to be going badly for us we should not lose heart, but always hoping for a change for the better, steadfastly continue searching for the solutions to our problems.”Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Statesman, philosopher, inventor, scientist, musician, economist“The game of chess is not merely an idle amusement; several very valuable qualities of the mind are to be acquired and strengthened by it, so as to become habits ready on all occasions; for life is a kind of chess.”Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), Statesman, philosopher, inventor, scientist, musician, economist“Life is like a game of chess, in which there are an infinite number of complex moves possible. The choice is open, but the move made contains within it all future moves. One is free to choose, but what follows is the result of one’s choice. From the consequences of one’s action there is never any escape.”Shelley Smith, (I don’t know who she is…but nice quote!)“The game of chess is a highly rigorous process which nevertheless allows for a considerable degree of imagination and intuition. The process actually has more to do with the intangible space of the intellect than the physical space of our world. The pieces and board are only markers for the mental processes which they map out.”Rodney Cottrell, Architect who designed a building, called The Chess House, based on a Fischer-Spassky game“The chess pieces are the block alphabet, which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chessboard, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem.”Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), French Artist“Chess has this in common with making poetry; that the desire for it comes upon the amateur in gusts.”A. A. Milne (1882-1956), Author of Winnie the Pooh“Human life very much resembles a game of chess: for, as in the latter, while a gamester is too attentive to secure himself very strongly on one side of the board, he is apt to leave

Of Carlsen and FIDE, expressed a similar viewpoint, that jeans were not at the center of this dispute.If you think what happened today has anything to do with “jeans”. You clearly aren’t paying attention— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) December 28, 2024What we know is that Freestyle Chess published an agreement with FIDE on a "friendly co-existence" on December 21. Carlsen and Nakamura said that FIDE threatened players in the background—a claim FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky denied in a conversation with ChessBase India, saying that the dispute is solely about Freestyle Chess using the term "world championship" in their events. FIDE President Dvorkovich posted, from the official FIDE account, that the organization will issue a further statement on the matter soon.I note the press release issued by the Freestyle Chess Players Club.While my quote has been presented accurately, I shall clarify that my decision as FIDE President was based on direct communication with the players. However, the full press release was not agreed upon with me,… International Chess Federation (@FIDE_chess) December 23, 2024Still, we saw the reigning world champion return to defend his blitz title—or, well, share it.2. Historic, Last-Minute Rule Change Sparks Mostly Negative ReactionsFor the first time, we have co-world champions, and the decision was made rather quickly after Carlsen suggested it. In the final match, Carlsen won the first two games, but Nepomniachtchi incredibly won the next two on demand to force sudden death tiebreaks. The players would continue playing until a single game was won, and the winner of that game would be world champion.After three draws, Carlsen suggested to call it a day, and President Dvorkovich made the final call to change the regulations. A video later came out showing that the players discussed making short draws ad infinitum.Magnus : "If they like refuse, we can just play short draws until they give up."Isn't this match-fixing, @FIDE_chess? Dubov & Nepo were double forfeited last year for pre-arranging a draw, why wasn't similar action taken this time around? pic.twitter.com/WjyteaztLi— Abhiraj (@mytywarriorking) January 1, 2025Carlsen posted that the video was misleading, writing, "I've never prearranged a draw in my