Top 71 Tal's Quotes
#1. Tal's combinations often exert a sort of paralysing influence on the opponent's play. It would seem that the element of surprise plays a big part in this.
Mark Taimanov
#2. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#3. Incremental change is better than ambitious failure ... Success feeds on itself.
Tal Ben-Shahar
#4. A man makes choices," Tal said.
"True, but what choices a man makes depends on what choices he is offered.
Raymond E. Feist
#5. I have always thought it a matter of honour for every chess player to deserve the smile of fortune.
Mikhail Tal
#6. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#7. I go over many games collections and pick up something from the style of each player.
Mikhail Tal
#8. Attaining lasting happiness requires that we enjoy the journey on our way toward a destination we deem valuable. Happiness is not about making it to the peak of the mountain nor is it about climbing aimlessly around the mountain; happiness is the experience of climbing toward the peak.
Tal Ben-Shahar
#9. I see my own style as being a symbiosis of the styles of Alekhine, Tal and Fischer.
Garry Kasparov
#10. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#11. We can only learn to deal with failure by actually experiencing failure, by living through it. The earlier we face difficulties and drawbacks, the better prepared we are to deal with the inevitable obstacles along our path.
Tal Ben-Shahar
#12. A diplomatic passport for a Tal Zahavi, with a current photo of Yael-1. The same birth date as in the other passport. The interior must have had fifty entry stamps for European and South American countries, plus the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. The woman traveled a lot.
John Sandford
#13. Without technique it is impossible to reach the top in chess, and therefore we all try to borrow from Capablanca his wonderful, subtle technique.
Mikhail Tal
#14. If (Black) is going for victory, he is practically forced to allow his opponent to get some kind of well-known positional advantage.
Mikhail Tal
#15. Just as one's imagination is stirred by a girl's smile, so is one's imagination stirred by the possibilities of chess.
Mikhail Tal
#16. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#17. My closest friends from Israel make fun of me for becoming an American, and my American friends make fun of how Israeli I am ... I can't win.
Alona Tal
#18. 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!'
Mikhail Tal
#19. Xaphen swore an oath never to fail his primarch.
Argal Tal did not. He spoke in a voice soft enough to break hearts, "We are heretics, father.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden
#20. It is difficult to play against Einstein's theory -on his first loss to Fischer
Mikhail Tal
#21. Turns out the problem is the picture. The problem isn't the 16,000 murders each year [ ... ]. That's not the problem. The photo is the thing.
Teodoro Petkoff
#22. There are some people who always feel happy. They're called psychopaths
Tal Ben-Shahar
#23. Both the Glory and the destroyer We are Proud to Honor Clan Sub-Leader Rash-au-Tal Vergent who Inspires us Every Day had gathered vital intelligence about Ruhar defense tactics and capabilities.
Craig Alanson
#24. The local music community here was dying for a place to record, so we started doing acoustic, folk and bluegrass and then did rock projects for other bands, as well as for my son Tal and my own work.
Randy Bachman
#26. 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
Mikhail Tal
#27. First, how to sac my queen, then rook, then bishop, then knight, then pawns.
Mikhail Tal
#28. If Tal would learn to program himself properly, then it would become quite impossible to play against him.
Mikhail Botvinnik
#29. When I was about six, I saw my elder siblings play chess and pestered my mother into teaching me. Very soon, I was beating everyone at home, and they thought it would be good to join a club. So my sister would take me to the Tal chess club on Thursdays and weekends.
Viswanathan Anand
#30. For pleasure you can read the games collections of Andersson and Chigorin, but for benefit you should study Tarrasch, Keres and Bronstein.
Mikhail Tal
#32. To play for a draw (at any rate with White) is to some degree a crime against chess.
Mikhail Tal
#34. Even if nothing awaits you in the dark, Tal wondered, what if your line is baited, and you keep pulling in things you do not intend?
Matt Holgate
#35. I like to grasp the initiative and not give my opponent peace of mind.
Mikhail Tal
#36. There are two types of sacrifices: correct ones and mine
Mikhail Tal
#37. Tal accepted absolutely all the world champion's conditions with a smile, taking away a very important psychological trump card from him - the harsh, prickly relations with his opponent that were characteristic of all Botvinnik's matches.
Gennadi Sosonko
#38. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#39. I'm not sure I ever even liked Tal, much less loved him, and by the way, Tal, I believe the Palestinians should have their own state.
Rachel Cohn
#40. Happiness is the overall experience of pleasure and meaning
Tal Ben-Shahar
#41. Because," Mischa whispered, not taking her eyes off him. "After Tal found me, I couldn't let him go. I didn't want to be lost anymore.
Stylo Fantome
#42. I tended to lean towards the guys who both sang and played, such as Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner ... And at the other end of the spectrum, I had Eric Clapton in a rock and blues sense, jazz guys such as Tal Farlow and Les Paul ... Then Chet Atkins-type stuff.
Brad Paisley
#43. I'm not a real blond ... Shocking.
Alona Tal
#44. If Tal sacrifices a piece, take it. If Petrosian sacrifices a piece, don't take it.
Mikhail Botvinnik
#45. 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
Mikhail Tal
#46. Quiet moves often make a stronger impression than a wild combination with heavy sacrifices.
Mikhail Tal
#47. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#48. When you appreciate the good, the good appreciates.
Tal Ben-Shahar
#49. Play the move that forces the win in the simplest way. Leave the brilliancies to Alekhine, Keres and Tal.
Irving Chernev
#50. Fischer is the greatest genius to descend from the chess heavens.
Mikhail Tal
#51. If I could, I want to take a page from the George Clooney-like actors of the world. They do things that are relevant, things that don't necessarily have huge box office appeal, but they matter.
Alona Tal
#52. I can go through life as a victim, blaming others for my misfortunes, and experiencing frustration over my condition. Or I can choose to be an active agent and do what I can do to bring about a positive change in my life.
Tal Ben-Shahar
#53. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#54. I had family and friends back home. Just because I could potentially feel alone in Los Angeles, that didn't mean I was alone.
Alona Tal
#55. I know who I am, and I know who you are, and nothing else matters. it's how we live our life.
Tal McThenia
#56. ...That is my biography from the first day of my chess life to the present.
JOURNALIST. And your plans.
PLAYER. To play!
Mikhail Tal
#57. According to such great attacking players as Bronstein and Tal, most combinations are inspired by the player's memories of earlier games.
Pal Benko
#58. Que busca? Tal vez busca su destino. Tal vez su destino es buscar.
... what is he searching for? Perhaps he searches for his destiny. Perhaps his destiny is to search.
Octavio Paz
#59. I always had a weird thing with being the last person somewhere ... like a movie theater or a classroom. I get a weird sense of anxiety.
Alona Tal
#60. I started playing jazz by slowing down Tal Farlow records and analyzing his runs
Lenny Breau
#61. I'm sorry," muttered Locke. "I was so keen to come to Tal fucking Verrar." "It's not your fault. We were both eager to hop in bed with the wench; it's just shit luck she turned out to have the clap.
Scott Lynch
#62. If you wait for luck to turn up, life becomes very boring.
Mikhail Tal
#63. Some sacrifices are sound; the rest are mine
Mikhail Tal
#64. I had a career at home, and I just knew that it'd be okay if nothing happened in Los Angeles.
Alona Tal
#65. Young man, consider that the train has left, and all you can do is loudly slam the door in farewell.
Mikhail Tal
#66. 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.
Mikhail Tal
#67. Remember, never rely on one plan, Tal. Always have two or more in place when you undertake something perilous. If the first one fails, go to the second plan. If the second plan fails, go to the third." "If the third plan fails, Your Grace?" Kaspar laughed. "Then run like hell if you're still alive.
Raymond E. Feist
#68. Know something? I'd lay even odds that between the people following us and the people hunting us, we've become this city's principle means of employment. Tal Verrar's entire economy is now based on fucking with us.
Scott Lynch
#69. 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
Mikhail Tal
#70. Our behavior toward others is often a reflection of our treatment of ourselves.
Tal Ben-Shahar
#71. Fischer is Fischer, but a knight is a knight!
Mikhail Tal
Famous Authors
Popular Topics
Scroll to Top
