Chess QuoteMaster (QM) #8: Garry Kasparov
In chess the rules are fixed, and the outcome is unpredictable, whereas in Putin's Russia the rules are unpredictable, and the outcome is fixed. — Garry Kasparov
[A note for my regular readers: The intro has not changed...much. Feel free to jump to the Table of Contents.]
So, who are the GOATs of chess quotes? Do you have an opinion?
Hey, it's no problem if you haven't considered the issue! I'm more than willing to fill that particular void in your thoughts with my opinions!!
What makes my opinions better than yours? Well, my opinion is informed by decades of chess and a (diminished) chess library that takes up multiple shelves in my library. Primarily, though, I'm the one who took the time to put some thought into this sorely overlooked aspect of chess history, a Top Ten ranking of the greatest chess QuoteMasters (QMs) of all time.
Still, it's just a set of opinions. Besides, if you don't fully agree with my judgments, though I can hardly imagine such a contrary and confused state of mind, then chess.com generously provided a comments section so you can express your agreements, disagreements, quibbles, corrections, expansions, nominations, and questions. Some of which I will respond to!
In this blog, you can quickly review the candidates and then read what I wrote about QM #8.
Questions for the Reader to Ponder
Reminder About Those "Questions for the Reader"
The candidates, in alphabetical order, are Alekhine, Bronstein, Capablanca, Dvoretsky, Fischer, Kasparov, Kotov, Lakdawala, Emanuel Lasker, Mednis, Nimzowitsch, Nunn, Pachman, Romanovsky, Seirawan, Silman, Soltis, Spielmann, Steinitz, Tal, Tarrasch, Tartakower, and Znosko-Borovsky. No, you can't add anyone. All the selecting has already been done, and that's that, so it's too late to nominate anyone else. And the choices for #1 to #10 are also locked in the electrons orbiting inside my computer. So there!
You'll have noted there are more than ten candidates, twenty-three in point of fact! Well, of course there are! Otherwise, you could start making some well-informed guesses after the first five were announced. Now there's at least an attempt to shroud the results in a bit of mystery as we count down to numbers three, two, and one!
| Based on the quotes you're about to read, and prior QM posts, was Garry a good choice for the number eight spot? |
The prior posts:
| Who do you think will take the number 7 spot? |
| Who do you think will take the number one spot? |
Some Q&As from the previous blogs in this series.
| Question | Current Votes (last updated: 25 June 12:06 P.M. EDT) |
| Who do you think was left out that should have been included? | Philidor (1), Morphy (1), Giri (1), Grischuk (1), Rozman (1), Tony Miles (1) |
| Who do you think won't make the QM Top Ten at all? | Capablanca (1), @DocSimoo's Grandma (1), Alekhine (1), Lakdawala (1), Znosko-Borovsky (1) |
| Who did people think would take the number ten spot? | Bronstein (1), Nimzowitsch (1), Spassky (1), Tarrasch (1) |
| Who did people think would take the number nine spot? | Pachman (1), Lasker (1), Steinitz (1) |
| Who did people think would take the number eight spot? | Lasker (1), Nimzowitsch (1), Steinitz (1) |
| Who did people think would take the number one spot? | Nimzowitsch (1), Fischer (½*), Tal (½*), Kasparov (1) |
*@DocSimoo split their vote between Fischer and Tal.
#1 chess.com Hall of Fame: Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian GM, FIDE and PCA World CC, the youngest ever undisputed World CC at age 22 until Gukesh Dommaraju won the title at age 18 in 2024, and held the record for the world’s peak ELO at 2851 until Magnus Carlsen passed that mark in 2013.
The #1 ranked player for 255 months, he still retains records for winning fifteen consecutive tournaments and for receiving eleven consecutive Chess Oscars as the world’s best player. Oh, and he won the World Junior CC, and shared in the USSR CC as a teen. He won 19 medals in Olympiads, including eight team golds that were earned every time he competed. His individual medals included three board golds, one board silver, two board bronzes, three performance golds, and one performance silver.
Some Selected Kasparov Writings
Since retiring from chess Garry has focused on writing and politics. As a chess author, Garry has made an indelible mark with His My Great Predecessor series. He also co-authored several books on opening theory (Batsford Chess Openings, Classical Variation of the Caro–Kann Defence, Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defence) and contributed extensively to the five-volume Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (ECO), including columns Garry wrote for the series.
Another effort worth mentioning is Revolution in the 70s, a book dealing with the development of opening theory in that decade such as the Hedgehog. Curiously enough, some of that revolution was precipitated by a 1970 exhibition victory by Bobby Fischer against Ulf Andersson. Andersson took many lessons from that loss and became a huge proponent of Hedgehog and coiled-spring strategies in the 1970s, exerting a strong influence on GM Suba, a fabulous writer. You can read about some of the coiled-spring precepts in this blog Analyze with KIMPLODES! E = Energy.
Okay, let's get to the heart of the matter, the ten quotes allowed to each candidate for the QM Top Ten.
You'll observe Quote #1 in the image above. As I explained in the Criteria, it's important to me to be able to visualize at least one quote. In general, Garry's quotes offer a sense of walking tightropes, so the above struck me as being just right. (With a head nod to Goldilocks and her apparently unerring sense of what was and what wasn't, but no sense for danger.)
Let's move on to the remaining nine quotes. I could have created images for several of these, but the ample goal for each of the QMs will simply be to demonstrate that one of their quotes was readily converted to an image that resonates.
My love of dynamic complications often led me to avoid simplicity when perhaps it was the wisest choice. Chess Mistakes
A master looks at every move he would like to make, especially the impossible ones.
Sometimes the hardest thing to do in a pressure situation is to allow the tension to persist. The temptation is to make a decision, any decision, even if it is an inferior choice. Chess Quotes - Success
Losing can persuade you to change what doesn't need to be changed, and winning can convince you everything is fine even if you are on the brink of disaster. Chess Quotes On Losing
When your house is on fire, you can’t be bothered with the neighbors. Or, as we say in chess, if your King is under attack, don't worry about losing a pawn on the queenside. Chess Quotes - Strategy
The highest art of the chess player lies in not allowing your opponent to show you what he can do. Chess Quotes - Success
Ultimately, what separates a winner from a loser at the grandmaster level is the willingness to do the unthinkable.
Attackers may sometimes regret bad moves, but it is much worse to forever regret an opportunity you allowed to pass you by. Chess Mistakes
The worst enemy of the strategist is the clock. Time trouble... Reduces us all to pure reflex and reaction, tactical play. Emotion and instinct cloud our strategic vision when there is no time for proper evaluation. Chess Quotes - Strategy
Making a list, checking it twice
[A note for my regular readers: The intro has minimal changes. I played with a few words and may have switched some images to amuse myself and a few select others, but there's nothing brilliant, imo. Feel free to jump to Why Garry Ended at #8. You'll miss some new images, but worse things happen in life.]
I would hope some sharp-eyed critic out there would ask this critical question: What criteria did I use to determine who made the QM Top Ten List and who didn't? You asked for it, you got it! Right here, and right now.
| #1 | Gut feel. Darned if what they said doesn't resonate somewhere in my chess soul. |
| #2 | Must have ten quotable quotes that I could find without too much painful research on my part. |
| #3 | It must have been written or translated into English. I leave it to others to manage their linguistic chess QMs. |
| #4 | If it's a full paragraph...it isn't a quote. |
| #5 |
If it made me laugh it's probably a winner. |
| #6 | If it made me laugh and cry it's almost definitely a winner. |
| #7 | If it seemed glaringly obvious, I tried to consider when it was said. Sometimes that works, sometimes...not. |
| #8 | Can I visualize at least one quote? Can I create a picture that captures the essence of a quote? |
For each QM, I will be adding my take on why #9 was better than #10, and so forth, with every post. That's found at Why Garry Kasparov Ended at #8.
There might be a quote shootout, with five to ten additional quotes, if two QM candidates are evenly matched after their first ten quotes. This is unlike the 2024 World Blitz CC, and more like a golf tournament with a sudden death playoff. There can be no ties, but if it comes down to a coin flip, a spin of the roulette wheel, a random dart toss, or a roll of the dice to decide, so be it. Ultimately, I wield the scythe that separates and slots the candidates. [Tiebreaks will usually occur behind the scenes.]
Sheesh! Everybody's a critic!!
Are there any flaws in your approach?
Get thee behind me, Satan!
Sigh, of course there are. For instance, for most of the potential QMs I relied on quotes easily found in the wild, sayings that were gyrating around the meme-verse, t-shirts, and on the lips of players and coaches everywhere and everywhen. However, some of these folks wrote very quotable material, but for some reason their quotes have not spread broadly across the chess echosystem. ("Echosystem" is my second-newest contribution to the Urban Dictionary; echoverse is my most recent entry, comprising a system of echosystems.)
What do you do when finding quotes seems impossible?
For those whose quotes have not yet infiltrated every nook and cranny of the chess echosystem (not even remotely the case with Garry Kimovich Kasparov), I was forced to do page-by-page research of books they had written...though only after first filtering through a List of Chess Notes Feature Articles by Edward Winter that offered alphabetical access regarding information about chess notables, starting with Alekhine and closing with Zukertort. [After that the site moved on to innumerable other tidbits of interest for any would-be or actual chess historian.]
Okay, what's your point? You did a lot of research for some of these characters. So what?
In my circular way of getting to the point, I found that I turned up a lot of very quotable material going through a book for those whose sayings did not yet appear widely across the chess quote echosystem. I harbor hope these twelve posts will alleviate some of that lack of respect for people who are eminently quotable.
Still, the process left me to ponder whether an in-depth look into only some candidate's published works was an injustice to those who had plenty of quotes already bouncing around the echoverse. Bottom line, I chose not to do a page-by-page of every candidate's works. One, I don't have books by all of them. Two, I don't have an infinite amount of time and energy.
To double down, I'm not going change my approach. As a character said in Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, "So it goes."
The intensity is correct, the hair and beard are all wrong, and I'm lazy when it comes to creating images. This only took 30 minutes or so.
Okay, part of the response strikes me as easy. His top ten quotes were clearly better than either Spielmann's or Soltis'. Heck, the vox populi have proven that by the fact people bandy about Kasparov quotes far more readily and frequently than QMs #9 and #10. Quote erat demonstrandum (Q.E.D.) - the quotes have demonstrated this singular truth. Still, I'll offer a few free-wheeling thoughts.
First, Kasparov's quotes offered more balance. If you review Spielmann's quotes, Chess QuoteMaster (QM) #9: GM Rudolf Spielmann, you'll note that he was focused on one aspect of chess, sacrifice. Garry of course mentions tactics but also observes that there is a dark side when trying to bend the board to your will, creating unnecessary complications that may rebound to your detriment!
Second, Garry's quotes are livelier. The bubble with energy and passion! As I glance again through Chess QuoteMaster #10: GM Andrew Soltis his thoughts, however insightful, read more like a dry report or a master's thesis. Further, Garry's quotes are personal, jumping into the thoughts of what formed him, and how sometimes his very successes hindered him.
So, whose quotes are the best to this point? An easy call, imo.
Now, as to why I thought seven people deserved to be ranked higher than Garry.🤔 Hmm...sorry, I can't provide those insights yet as that would let you know who numbers one through seven are.
Reminder About Reader Questions
Many of these questions will change with every entry in the QM Top Ten posts. But that seems kind of obvious.🤣
| Do you think Kasparov was a good choice for the number 8 spot? (I can guess the answer of the person who placed him at #1.) |
| Who do you think will take the number 7 spot? |
| Who do you think will take the number one spot? A particularly relevant question for the individual who picked Kasparov #1. |
In the table below I'll track responses.
| Question | Your Votes (last updated 07042025: 6:34 AM EST) |
| 1 | Yes (2), No (#), Maybe (1), and are you out of your mind, YouIdiot? (#) |
| 2 | Lasker (1), Lakdawala (1), Tartakower (1) |
| 3 | @VOB96 stays the course with Nimzo! And @NMChesstoImpress says the same! |
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, playing the part of Garry Kasparov...sure, the accent and hair are wrong, but the wolverine attitude!
Short, sweet, surely spellbinding! Well, that's the goal. Ultimately, if someone besides me reads these, I'll consider the success box checked.😉😎
If you enjoyed this, please come back to see who was ranked #7 all the way through #1...and then a special edition with quotes from all the contenders who didn't make my Top Ten, but about whom you might have your own opinions on where they should have fallen.
Cheers!
Kevin
No fool can play chess, and only fools do. – German proverb
When the chess game is over, the pawn and the king go back to the same box. – Irish proverb
I remember our class working on algebra. All the boys were quiet ... Suddenly Alekhine stood up excitedly, his face radiant ..."Well, Alekhine, did you solve it?' teacher Bachinsky asked him. "I did ... I sacrifice the knight, and the bishop moves ... And White wins!". – Georgy Rimsky-Korsakov (classmate)
Prior Blogs in the Quote Master Series
ANNOUNCMENT! The Top Ten Chess Quotemasters (QMs)
