Mikhail Tal Quotes

You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2+2=5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one

In my games I have sometimes found a combination intuitively simply feeling that it must be there. Yet I was not able to translate my thought processes into normal human language.

If you wait for luck to turn up, life becomes very boring.

It's funny, but many people don't understand why I draw so many games nowadays. They think my style must have changed but this is not the case at all. The answer to this drawing disease is that my favorite squares are e6, f7, g7 and h7 and everyone now knows this. They protect these squares not once but four times!

Just as one's imagination is stirred by a girl's smile, so is one's imagination stirred by the possibilities of chess.

There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine

Later, I began to succeed in decisive games. Perhaps because I realized a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but also my opponent

Botvinnik's right! When he says such things, then he's right. Usually, I prefer not to study chess but to play it. For me chess is more an art than a science. It's been said that Alekhine and I played similar chess, except that he studied more. Yes, perhaps, but I have to say that he played, too.

To play for a draw (at any rate with White) is to some degree a crime against chess.

When I asked Fischer why he had not played a certain move in our game, he replied: 'Well, you laughed when I wrote it down!'

Of course, errors are not good for a chess game, but errors are unavoidable and in any case, a game without ant errors, or as they say 'flawless game' is colorless.

Fischer is Fischer, but a knight is a knight!

Quiet moves often make a stronger impression than a wild combination with heavy sacrifices.

First, how to sac my queen, then rook, then bishop, then knight, then pawns.

Without technique it is impossible to reach the top in chess, and therefore we all try to borrow from Capablanca his wonderful, subtle technique.

Many Chess players were surprised when after the game, Fischer quietly explained: 'I had already analyzed this possibility' in a position which I thought was not possible to foresee from the opening

Fischer is the greatest genius to descend from the chess heavens.

The cherished dream of every chessplayer is to play a match with the World Champion. But here is the paradox: the closer you come to the realization of this goal, the less you think about it.

I will not hide the fact that I love to hear the spectators react after a sacrifice of a piece or pawn. I don't think that there is anything bad in such a feeling; no artist or musician is indifferent to the reactions of the public.

Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine

I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind.

If (Black) is going for victory, he is practically forced to allow his opponent to get some kind of well-known positional advantage.

It is difficult to play against Einstein's theory -on his first loss to Fischer

I'd like to always be romantic in chess. Sadly, this doesn't always work like that.

I go over many games collections and pick up something from the style of each player.

For pleasure you can read the games collections of Andersson and Chigorin, but for benefit you should study Tarrasch, Keres and Bronstein.

I believe most definitely that one must not only grapple with the problems on the board, one must also make every effort to combat the thoughts and will of the opponent.

Planning anything is hopeless.

Playing in your home city is very special. You feel the support and attention. When everything goes well, it's very great, but when it doesn't, you might as well turn off your phone: the advices seem endless.

As long as my opponent has not yet castled, on each move I seek a pretext for an offensive. Even when I realize that the king is not in danger.

Naturally, the psychological susceptibility of a match participant is significantly higher than a participant in a tournament, since each game substantially changes the over-all position.

You can't avoid mistakes and bad luck.

I have always thought it a matter of honour for every chess player to deserve the smile of fortune.

I think that the FIDE leaders have to reconsider the current drawing rules - their advantages aren't very clear, but their shortcomings are obvious. Artificial drawing of the lots is detrimental for everyone.

Chess isn't football or hockey.

I can take care of myself! But the "external barriers", my opponents, do indeed concern me.