“Many have become Chess Masters, no one has become the Master of Chess.”
As quoted in Chess and Computers (1976) by David N. L. Levy, p. 40
Siegbert Tarrasch was one of the strongest chess players and most influential chess teachers of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Tarrasch was born in Breslau , Prussian Silesia. Having finished school in 1880, he left Breslau to study medicine in Halle. With his family, he settled in Nuremberg, Bavaria, and later in Munich, setting up a successful medical practice. He had five children. Tarrasch was Jewish, converted to Christianity in 1909, and was a patriotic German who lost a son in World War I, yet he faced antisemitism in the early stages of Nazism.
Wikipedia
“Many have become Chess Masters, no one has become the Master of Chess.”
As quoted in Chess and Computers (1976) by David N. L. Levy, p. 40
Concerning a World Chess Championship match, as quoted by William Ewart Napier in "The Bright Side of Chess" (1952) by Irving Chernev, p. 114
“To acquire a reputation of being a dashing player at the cost of losing a game.”
Response to a question as to What was the object of playing a gambit opening, as quoted in The Treasury of Chess Lore (1959) by Fred Reinfeld
“He who fears an isolated Queen's Pawn should give up Chess.”
As quoted in The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played : 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy (1965) by Irving Chernev, Game 18 : The Isolated Pawn, p. 81
“In tournaments it is not enough to be a connoisseur of chess; one must also play well.”
As quoted in "The Bright Side of Chess" (1952) by Irving Chernev, p. 107
“Mistrust is the most necessary characteristic of the Chess player.”
The Game of Chess (1931), Pt. 2 : The End Game, p. 79
“Before the endgame, the Gods have placed the middle game.”
As quoted in Cunning Exiles : Studies of Modern Prose Writers (1974), by Don Anderson and Stephen Thomas Knight, p. 41
“The beauty of a move lies not in its appearance but in the thought behind it.”
Aron Nimzowitsch, as quoted in Nimzovich : The Hypermodern (1948) by Fred Reinfeld
Misattributed
The Game of Chess (As quoted by Fred Reinfeld in Tarrasch's Best Games of Chess)