Thanks Smash. Given my history of posting about quilt covers,
beards, and all things squirrelicious I confess to being quite pleased
with this one, one of my less drivel filled ones perhaps.
Nevermind the threadjackers. There are many quotes of players
eulogising, praising and generally waxing lyrical about other
players...but are there any which slag other players off? Any quotes
which drip with disdain directed towards another player?
I'm thinking Mr. Fischer must have said something less than
complementary about other players at some point?
Mark
The Squirrel Lover
I've got some great ones for you, but I left them at home. They're in
a book called "The Bright Side of Chess" by Irving Chernev, whom you
quoted to start off this thread. It's a WONDERFUL book, with some of
the most brilliant chess games ever played, as well as some excellent
chess problems, and some chess stories. Here's one story I
remember. It's not a quote, but it's rather interesting.
Dr. Lasker, who at the time was Chess Champion of the World, was
playing chess at a local club. He had decided to keep his identity
secret. Lasker was playing a blind man who actually a very strong
player. After Lasker played a few extremely strong moves, the man
looked up, smiled, and said, "Dr. Lasker, I presume."
More to follow tomorrow.
Rein
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Chernev's book, which I am
shamelessly copying since he's a better writer than I am.
Reinfeld once commented on a sacrifice by Janowsky in a game
against Lasker: "In return for the piece, Janowsky obtains two Pawns
and four checks".
Napier once said, "Some of Marshall's most sparkling moves look at
first like typographical errors!"
Staunton's comment on the terrific complications in a Labourdonnais-
McDonnel game: "I cannot see how it is possible for either player to
save his game!"
This was Tarrasch's biiting comment on a line of play chosen by a
prominent master in a World's championship match, "Up to this point
White has been following well-known analysis, but now he makes a
fatal error -- he begins to use his own head"
And, my personal favorite, by one Aldous Huxley:
"The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the
universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature.
The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play
is always fair, just, and patient. But also we know, to our cost, the he
never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for
ignorance."
Here are some stories you might find interesting. Some are a little
long, so you don't have to read them if you don't want... ;-)
Tartakover was giving an exhibition of simultaneous play at Zandvoort
against thirty opponents. During the course of the exhibition, one of
the contestants ordered coffee. By mistake the waitress left the coffee
on Tartakover's side of the board. When Tartakover came around to
make his move, he saw the coffee, and thinking it was meant for him,
drank it down. His adversary apparently didn't see anything funny in it,
and was so upset by the loss of his coffee that he made several
blunders in succession, and lost quickly. A spectator complimented
Tartakover on having played a good game on that board. "My
opponent left a cup of coffee en prise," replied the great master, "a
mistake which wrecked his game."
A hundred and fifty years ago, there was no such title as "Champion
of the World." Had there been one, Howard Staunton, then England's
greatest player, might have held it. Staunton had a high reputation --
and he was jealous of it. One time he confronted Loewenthal, a rival
master, with, "I understand, Mr. Loewenthal, that you have published
a statement in your chess column to the effect that you have beaten
be the majority of games." "I did write that," answered
Loewenthal. "You will have to retract that assertion in your next issue,"
said Staunton. "But I did beat you the majority of the games we
played, "protested Loewenthal. "That does not matter," Staunton
replied, "you must retract the statement!"
Chess is not for timid souls-Steinitz
My problem with chess was all my pieces wanted to end the game as soon as
possible-David Barry(writer)
Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic-Botvinnik
The good player is always lucky-Capa
I like to make them squirm-Fischer
Life is a kind of chess, with struggle, competition, good and ill events-Ben
Franklin
Excellence at chess is one mark of a scheming mind-Sherlock Holmes
The hardest part of chess is winning a won game-Marshall
Chess is ruthless: you've got to be prepared to kill people-Short
..and finally:
Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing
something very clever, when they are only wasting their time-George Bernard Shaw
🙂
Ok, here are my gems, and very eloquent they are too:
"Oh, s#$%!"
"They're bound to think I lost my queen for a purpose, right?"
"aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrggghhhhh, stop, internet explorer, stop loading the next page, I never meant to
press the move button, really I didn't, I just slipped. Honestly, what, you don't believe me? Look
here, I was clearly reaching for the rook" - At this point I realise my Mac isn't actually arguing with
me, I'm just insane....
the last one is the most commonly used here, by me at least...
Joe