Alexander Alekhine

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

“Chess is not only knowledge and logic.”

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

“Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.”

“The fact that a player is very short of time is, to my mind, as little to be considered an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime.”

“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.”

“Oh! this opponent, this collaborator against your will, whose notion of beauty always differs from yours and whose means are often too limited for active assistance to your intentions!”

“In my opinion, a master is morally obliged to seize every sort of opportunity and to try to solve the problems of the position without fear of some simplifications.”

“I think that for the highest achievements nowadays... need to have the stable as a rock scientific base. And also need to own modesty.”

“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.”