Bronstein's Quotes

#1. There is no doubt that Bronstein's shrewd understanding of chess psychology was crucial to his success. Without it, his impetuous style and technical flaws might have relegated him to a minor career.

Pal Benko

#2. 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

#3. 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

#4. To play a match for the World Championship is the cherished dream of every chess player.

David Bronstein

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

David Bronstein

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

David Bronstein

#7. Chess is imagination.

David Bronstein

#8. 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

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

David Bronstein

#10. In chess, as in life, opportunity strikes but once.

David Bronstein

#11. The essence of Chess is thinking about what Chess is.

David Bronstein

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

Mikhail Tal

#13. 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

#14. If you can play the first ten or fifteen moves in just as many minutes, you can be in a state of bliss for the rest of the game. If, on the other hand, Bronstein thinks for forty minutes about his first move, then time trouble is inevitable.

Alexander Kotov

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

David Bronstein

#16. 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

#17. It would be as naive to study the song of the nightingale, as it would be ridiculous to try and win a King's Gambit against a representative of the old chess guard.

David Bronstein

#18. According to such great attacking players as Bronstein and Tal, most combinations are inspired by the player's memories of earlier games.

Pal Benko

#19. 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

#20. The most powerful weapon in Chess is to have the next move

David Bronstein

#21. 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

#22. 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

#23. The local liberal press, much molested by the censorship, had its courageous and skilful writers such as VM Doroshevich, the master of that semi-literary and semi-journalistic essay at which Bronstein himself was one day to excel.

Isaac Deutscher

#24. 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

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

David Bronstein

#26. 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

#27. 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

#28. 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

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

David Bronstein

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

David Bronstein

#31. There is not a single true chess-player in the world whose heart does not beat faster at the mere sound of such long beloved and familiar words as 'gambit games'.

David Bronstein