Garry Kasparov: Chess

Garry Kasparov is former chess world champion. Explore interesting quotes on chess.

Garry Kasparov: 122 quotes5 likes

“In chess, bigamy is acceptable but monarchy is absolute.”

Part II, Chapter 8, Exchanges And Imbalances, p. 102
2000s, How Life Imitates Chess (2007)

“In conclusion, if you want to unravel the multitude of secrets of chess then don't begrudge the time.”

Learn Chess with Gary Kasparov (2003)
2000s

“The public must come to see that chess is a violent sport. Chess is mental torture.”

As quoted in Martin Amis's review of "Kasparov-Short" by Raymond Keene, Independent on Sunday, November 1995.
1990s

“Having spent a lifetime analyzing the game of chess and comparing the capacity of computers to the capacity of the human brain, I've often wondered, where does our success come from? The answer is synthesis, the ability to combine creativity and calculation, art and science, into a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. Chess is a unique cognitive nexus, a place where art and science come together in the human mind, and are then refined and improved by experience.”

Opening Gambit, Why Chess?, p. 4
2000s, How Life Imitates Chess (2007)

“Caissa, the goddess of chess, had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my nature.”

Part III, Chapter 15, Crisis Point, p. 188
2000s, How Life Imitates Chess (2007)

“[C]hess is not a game for dictators for numerous reasons. One, it's transparent. It’s all information hundred percent available so you know exactly what you have, you know exactly what your opponent has. You don’t know what he or she is thinking, but you definitely know what kind of resources your opponent can use to hurt you, to damage your position. Also, chess is very much a strategic game so you have to think long-term. Dictators don’t think long-term. Dictators, especially who are in power for so long as Putin is, they have to work on the survival mode. Because it’s all about today, maybe tomorrow morning. Everything that helps us survive is good. Because the moment the dictator thinks long-term, he’ll definitely miss guys from his own entourage hitting him in his own back. The game that defines dictators much better is poker because it’s about bluffs. It doesn’t matter whether you have a strong hand or weak hand. You can have a weak hand, but if you’re comfortable bluffing, raising stakes, and if you can read your opponent.”

2010s, Interview with Bill Kristol (2016)

“I was almost annoyed hearing that Putin plays chess and Obama or other leaders of the free world they play checkers. I thought I had to defend the integrity of my game because chess is not a game for dictators for numerous reasons. One, it’s transparent. It’s all information hundred percent available so you know exactly what you have, you know exactly what your opponent has. You don’t know what he or she is thinking, but you definitely know what kind of resources your opponent can use to hurt you, to damage your position.”

2010s, Interview with Bill Kristol (2016)

“In chess, we say that the player with the initiative is obliged to attack, otherwise the initiative will be lost and the counterattack will likely be decisive.”

2010s, The Truth About Putin (2018)

“When I retired from professional chess in 2005 to join the Russian pro-democracy movement against Putin, I was frequently asked how my chess experience might help me in politics. My answer was that it wouldn’t help much at all, because in chess we had fixed rules and uncertain results, while in Russian politics it was exactly the opposite.”

2010s, The Truth About Putin (2018)

“As a chess player, I know that strategy is the future impact of present decisions. However grand our plans are for two, five, even ten moves ahead, it's the move that we make now that determines that future.”

2020s, Stand with Ukraine in the fight against evil (2022)