Alexander Alekhine Quotes

Deux fous gagnent toujours, mais trois fous, non!

You can become a big master in chess only if you see your mistakes and short-comings. Exactly the same as in life itself.

I do not play chess – I fight at chess. Therefore, I willingly combine the tactical with the strategic, the fantastic with the scientific, the combinative with the positional, and I aim to respond to the demands of each given position.

During a chess tournament a master must envisage himself as a cross between an ascetic monk and a beast of prey.

Psychology is the most important factor in chess.

For success I consider three factors are necessary: firstly, an awareness of my own strengths and weaknesses; secondly, an accurate understanding of my opponent's strengths and weaknesses; thirdly, a higher aim than momentary satisfaction. I see this aim as being scientific and artistic achievements, which place the game of chess on a par with other arts.

A lifetime in not enough to learn everything about chess.

Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.

Chess, like other arts, must be practiced to be appreciated.

Play on both sides of the board is my favourite strategy.

For my victory over Capablanca I am indebted primarily to my superiority in the field of psychology. Capablanca played, relying almost exclusively on his rich intuitive talent. But for the chess struggle nowadays one needs a subtle knowledge of human nature, an understanding of the opponent's psychology.

Combination is a soul of chess.

Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.

When asked, -How is that you pick better moves than your opponents?, I responded: I'm very glad you asked me that, because, as it happens, there is a very simple answer. I think up my own moves, and I make my opponent think up his

I consider chess an art, and accept all those responsibilities which art places upon its devotees.

The purpose of human life and the sense of happiness is to give the maximum what the man is able to give.

I have had to work long and hard to eradicate the dangerous delusion that, in a bad position, I could always, or nearly always, conjure up some unexpected combination to extricate me from my difficulties.

As a rule, so-called "positional" sacrifices are considered more difficult, and therefore more praise-worthy, than those which are based exclusively on an exact calculation of tactical possibilities.

Chess is a matter of vanity.

Chess for me is not a game, but an art. Yes, and I take upon myself all those responsibilities which an art imposes on its adherents.

I believe that true beauty of chess is more than enough to satisfy all possible demands.

The infallible criterion by which to distinguish the true from the would-be strategist is the degree of originality of his conceptions. It makes little difference whether this originality is carried to excess, as was the case with Steinitz and Nimzowitsch.

I study chess eight hours a day, on principle.

Never before and never since have I seen - and I cannot even imagine, such an amazing rapidity of chess thinking that Capablanca possessed in 1913-14. In blitz games he gave all the St. Petersburg players odds of five minutes to one - and he won.

Young players expose themselves to grave risks when they blindly imitate the innovations of masters without themselves first checking all the details and consequences of these innovations.