'Chess is thirty to forty percent psychology. You don’t have this when you play a computer. I can’t confuse it.'

Judit Polgar

'There's so many lessons I get from chess, it's incredible, but I think the biggest thing for me has always been is that losing is learning.'

Maurice Ashley

'Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.'

Magnus Carlsen

'If you don’t win, it’s not a great tragedy – the worst that happens is that you lose a game.'

Bobby Fischer

'There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine.'

Mikhail Tal

'Excelling at chess has long been considered a symbol of more general intelligence. That is an incorrect assumption in my view, as pleasant as it might be.'

Garry Kasparov

'I am more strongly confirmed than ever in the belief that the time devoted to chess is literally frittered away.'

Paul Morphy

'Even a poor plan is better than no plan at all.'

Mikhail Chigorin

'A good player is always lucky.'

José Raúl Capablanca

'Planning anything is hopeless.'

Mikhail Tal

'A win is a win, which is about that particular moment.'

Viswanathan Anand

'Win with grace, lose with dignity!'

Susan Polgar