“Education in Chess has to be an education in independent thinking and judgement. Chess must not be memorized, simply because it is not important enough… Memory is too valuable to be stocked with trifles.”

—  Emanuel Lasker

Source: Lasker's Manual of Chess (1925), p. 337

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 14, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Education in Chess has to be an education in independent thinking and judgement. Chess must not be memorized, simply be…" by Emanuel Lasker?
Emanuel Lasker photo
Emanuel Lasker8
German World Chess Champion and grandmaster, contract bridg… 1868–1941

Related quotes

Bobby Fischer photo

“I love chess, and I didn't invent Fischerandom chess to destroy chess. I invented Fischerandom chess to keep chess going. Because I consider the old chess is dying, it really is dead. A lot of people come up with other rules of chess-type games, with 10x8 boards, new pieces, and all kinds of things. I'm really not interested in that. I want to keep the old chess flavor. I want to keep the old chess game. But just making a change so the starting positions are mixed, so it's not degenerated down to memorization and prearrangement like it is today.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

Radio Interview, June 27 1999 http://www.geocities.jp/bobbby_b/mp3/F_08_3.MP3 <br class="br">1990s

Bobby Fischer photo

“You know I'm finished with the old chess because it's all just a lot of book and memorization you know.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

Radio Interview, January 27 2002 http://www.geocities.jp/bobbby_b/mp3/F_20_1.MP3 <br class="br">2000s

Siegbert Tarrasch photo

“In tournaments it is not enough to be a connoisseur of chess; one must also play well.”

Siegbert Tarrasch (1862–1934) German chess player, chess writer, and chess theoretician

As quoted in "The Bright Side of Chess" (1952) by Irving Chernev, p. 107

Nikolai Krylenko photo

“We must finish once and for all with the neutrality of chess. We must condemn once and for all the formula "chess for the sake of chess", like the formula "art for art's sake". We must organize shockbrigades of chess-players, and begin immediate realization of a Five-Year Plan for chess.”

Nikolai Krylenko (1885–1938) Russian revolutionary, politician and chess organiser

Krylenko on promoting chess in the Soviet Union. Quoted in Robert Conquest, The Great Terror: A Reassessment

Bobby Fischer photo

“[Capablanca] wanted to change the rules already, back in the twenties, because he said chess was getting played out. He was right. Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorization and prearrangement. It’s a terrible game now. Very uncreative.”

Bobby Fischer (1943–2008) American chess prodigy, chess player, and chess writer

Radio Interview, October 16 2006 http://www.geocities.jp/bobbby_b/mp3/F_35_3.MP3 <br class="br">2000s

Everett Dean Martin photo

“One of the serious results of propaganda is that it has caused the public to think that education and propaganda are the same thing, and thus to make an ignorant multitude believe it is being educated when it is only being manipulated. Education aims at independence of judgement. Propaganda offers ready-made opinions for the unthinking herd.”

Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941)

Source: Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929), p. 145

Garry Kasparov photo

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

Garry Kasparov (1963) former chess world champion

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

Henry James photo

“Life's too short for chess.”

Henry James (1843–1916) American novelist, short story author, and literary critic

Henry James Byron, Our Boys (1875), Act I
Misattributed

Emanuel Lasker photo

“He who wants to educate himself in Chess must evade what is dead in Chess…the habit of playing with inferior opponents; the custom of avoiding difficult tasks; the weakness of uncritically taking over variations or rules discovered by others; the vanity which is self-sufficient; the incapacity for admitting mistakes; in brief, everything that leads to standstill or to anarchy.”

Emanuel Lasker (1868–1941) German World Chess Champion and grandmaster, contract bridge player, mathematician, and philosopher

Source: Lasker's Manual of Chess (1925), p. 338

Siegbert Tarrasch photo

“Many have become Chess Masters, no one has become the Master of Chess.”

Siegbert Tarrasch (1862–1934) German chess player, chess writer, and chess theoretician

As quoted in Chess and Computers (1976) by David N. L. Levy, p. 40

Related topics