David Bronstein Quotes

• The most powerful weapon in Chess is to have the next move

  David Bronstein

  Powerful, Moving, Next Move

  63 Copy quote

• In chess, as in life, opportunity strikes but once.

  David Bronstein

  Success, Opportunity, Chess

  39 Copy quote

• To lose one's objective attitude to a position, nearly always means ruining your game.

  David Bronstein

  Attitude, Mean, Games

  36 Copy quote

• A game of chess is not an examination of knowledge; it is a battle of nerves.

  David Bronstein

  Games, Battle, Nerves

  26 Copy quote

• If you have made a mistake or committed an inaccuracy there is no need to become annoyed and to think that everything is lost. You have to reorientate yourself quickly and find a new plan in the new situation.

  David Bronstein

  Mistake, Thinking, Annoyed

  28 Copy quote

• A strong player requires only a few minutes of thought to get to the heart of the conflict. You see a solution immediately, and half an hour later merely convince yourself that your intuition has not deceived you.

  David Bronstein

  Time, Strong, Heart

  20 Copy quote

• Even in the heat of a middlegame battle the master still has to bear in mind the outlines of a possible future ending.

  David Bronstein

  Mind, Battle, Chess

  15 Copy quote

• The essence of Chess is thinking about what Chess is.

  David Bronstein

  Thinking, Essence, Chess

  29 Copy quote

• When everything on the board is clear it can be so difficult to conceal your thoughts from your opponent.

  David Bronstein

  Boards, Opponents, Chess

  12 Copy quote

• Chess is infinite, and one has to make only one ill-considered move, and one's opponent's wildest dreams will become reality.

  David Bronstein

  Dream, Moving, Reality

  David Bronstein (1991). “200 Open Games”, p.27, Courier Corporation

  10 Copy quote

• Chess is imagination.

  David Bronstein

  Imagination, Chess

  22 Copy quote

• It is no secret that any talented player must in his soul be an artist, and what could be dearer to his heart and soul than the victory of the subtle forces of reason over crude material strength! Probably everyone has his own reason for liking the King`s Gambit, but my love for it can be seen in precisely those terms.

  David Bronstein

  Kings, Heart, Artist

  David Bronstein (1991). “200 Open Games”, p.8, Courier Corporation

  17 Copy quote

• Theory regards this opening as incorrect, but it is impossible to agree with this. Out of the five tournament games played by me with the King's Gambit, I have won all five.

  David Bronstein

  Kings, Games, Chess

  18 Copy quote

• Far from all of the obvious moves that go without saying are correct.

  David Bronstein

  Success, Moving, Chess

  18 Copy quote

• When you play against an experienced opponent who exploits all the defensive resources at his command you sometimes have to walk time and again, along the narrow path of 'the only move'.

  David Bronstein

  Moving, Play, Opponents

  21 Copy quote

• Independence of thought is a most valuable quality in a chess-player, both at the board and when preparing for a game.

  David Bronstein

  Success, Player, Games

  David Bronstein (1991). “200 Open Games”, p.113, Courier Corporation

  8 Copy quote

• Sometimes at lectures I am asked: how would the champions of the last century play today? I think that, after making a hurried study of modern openings, and watching one or two tournaments, the champions of the last century, and indeed the century before that, would very quickly occupy the same place that they occupied when they were alive.

  David Bronstein

  Thinking, Play, Two

  10 Copy quote

• What the devil possessed me to reply 1. ... e5?? I compltely forgot that Spassky, like Spielmann in the past, very much likes to play the King's Gambit.

  David Bronstein

  Kings, Past, Play

  13 Copy quote

• Nowadays grandmasters no longer study their opponent's games so much, but they study his character, his behaviour and his temperament in the most thorough fashion.

  David Bronstein

  Fashion, Character, Games

  David Bronstein (1991). “200 Open Games”, p.97, Courier Corporation

  20 Copy quote

• But whatever you might say and whatever I might say, a machine which can play chess with people is one of the most marvellous wonders of our 20th century!

  David Bronstein

  Play, People, Machines

  David Bronstein (1991). “200 Open Games”, p.15, Courier Corporation

  15 Copy quote

• In the middlegame one should not hesitate to advance a central passed pawn.

  David Bronstein

  Pawns, Should

  13 Copy quote

• Two passed pawns advancing on the enemy pieces have brought me more than a dozen points in tournaments.

  David Bronstein

  Two, Enemy, Pieces

  5 Copy quote

• There is no disputing that in the eyes of Schlechter, Teichmann or even Rubinstein, the backward pawn was something more substantial than lively piece play, but in our day the latter is more often preferred.

  David Bronstein

  Eye, Play, Pieces

  David Bronstein, Jim Marfia (1979). “Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953”, p.305, Courier Corporation

  13 Copy quote

• Some pieces in the King's Indian appear on a 'special price' list: the dark square bishops are at the top of that list.

  David Bronstein

  Kings, Dark, Squares

  8 Copy quote

• It is annoying that the rules of chess do not allow a pawn to take either horizontally or backwards, but only forwards ... This psychological tuning is ideal for attacking purposes, but what about for defence?

  David Bronstein

  Purpose, Tuning, Chess

  David Bronstein (1991). “200 Open Games”, p.195, Courier Corporation

  10 Copy quote

You May Also Like:

Mikhail Botvinnik

Vasily Smyslov

Mikhail Tal

Viktor Korchnoi

Efim Geller

Paul Keres

Boris Spassky

Max Euwe