'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

'Chess is a fairy tale of 1,001 blunders.'

Savielly Tartakower

'When you see a good move, look for a better one.'

Emanuel Lasker

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

Mikhail Tal

'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

'I get more upset at losing at other things than chess. I always get upset when I lose at Monopoly.'

Magnus Carlsen

'A sound plan makes us all heroes, the absence of a plan, idiots.'

Alexander Kotov