Samuel Reshevsky Quotes

#1. We often hear the terms 'positional' and 'tactical' used as opposites. But this is as wrong as to consider a painting's composition unrelated to its subject. Just as there is no such thing as 'artistic' art, so there is no such thing as 'positional' chess.

Samuel Reshevsky

#2. No matter how much theory progresses, how radically styles change, chess play is inconceivable without tactics.

Samuel Reshevsky

#3. Chess sharpens the mind, stimulates concentration, improves the memory and promotes visualization.

Samuel Reshevsky

#4. Tartakower once wrote that after planting a Knight in the center you can go to sleep. This is not to be taken literally, of course, but it contains more than a germ of truth.

Samuel Reshevsky

#5. Good players develop a tactical instinct, a sense of what is possible or likely and what is not worth calculating.

Samuel Reshevsky

#6. What is a weak pawn? A pawn that is exposed to attack and also difficult to defend is a weak pawn. There are several varieties: isolated, doubled, too advanced, retarded.

Samuel Reshevsky

#7. Young players calculate everything, a requirement of their relative inexperience.

Samuel Reshevsky

#8. My style is somewhere between that of Tal and Petrosian

Samuel Reshevsky

#9. It often happens that a player is so fond of his advantageous position that he is reluctant to transpose to a winning endgame.

Samuel Reshevsky

#10. The only good Rook is a working Rook!

Samuel Reshevsky

#11. The knight is renowned for, among other things, its suitability as a blockader ... Because its strength lies in short-range operations it is not uncomfortable standing in a single spot for long periods, as the Bishop is.

Samuel Reshevsky