Tartakower Quotes

#1. 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

#2. The first essential for an attack is the will to attack.

Savielly Tartakower

#3. In chess, there is only one mistake: over-estimation of your opponent. All else is either bad luck or weakness.

Savielly Tartakower

#4. The winner is the one who makes the next-to-last mistake.

Savielly Tartakower

#5. A Queen's sacrifice, even when fairly obvious, always rejoices the heart of the chess-lover.

Savielly Tartakower

#6. As for me, I am unfortunate enough not to posses a happy temperament like Najdorf, who views every happening in a rosy light and avoids any possibility of self-criticism. I am one of those unlucky skeptics who never overlook the dark side of even the happiest experience.

Savielly Tartakower

#7. It is well-known that chess and music go well together, and many are those who have achieved unusual proficiency in both.

Savielly Tartakower

#8. It's always better to sacrifice your opponent's men

Savielly Tartakower

#9. A game is always won through a mistake.

Savielly Tartakower

#10. Like the alchemist of old, for ever searching for the philosopher's stone, the analyst to-day never stops looking for stronger moves to prevent the defender from establishing equality.

Savielly Tartakower

#11. The ability to create and to control the tension of battle is perhaps the principal attainment of the great player.

Savielly Tartakower

#12. Lasker thought that his rationalism rendered him immune from the surprises of chess theory.

Savielly Tartakower

#13. No one ever won a game by resigning.

Savielly Tartakower

#14. To avoid losing a piece, many a person has lost the game

Savielly Tartakower

#15. I talk to myself because I like dealing with a better class of people.

Savielly Tartakower

#16. The move is there, but you must see it.

Savielly Tartakower

#17. Seize the outpost K5 with your knight, and you can go to sleep. Checkmate will come by itself.

Savielly Tartakower

#18. The blunders are all there on the board, waiting to be made.

Savielly Tartakower

#19. Some part of a mistake is always correct.

Savielly Tartakower

#20. Any opening is good enough, if its reputation is bad enough.

Savielly Tartakower

#21. Chess is a fairy tale of 1001 blunders.

Savielly Tartakower

#22. All Chess players should have a hobby

Savielly Tartakower

#23. I never defeated a healthy opponent.

Savielly Tartakower

#24. Shall we ever live to see the following wise prohibition - the audience is forbidden to smoke and the masters are forbidden to 'smoke out' the audience by playing exchanging variations?

Savielly Tartakower

#25. The mistakes are there, waiting to be made

Savielly Tartakower

#26. A draw can be obtained not only by repeating moves, but also by one weak move.

Savielly Tartakower

#27. An isolated pawn spreads gloom all over the chessboard.

Savielly Tartakower

#28. Drawn games are sometimes more scintillating than any conclusive contest.

Savielly Tartakower

#29. Psychologically, the choice of an appropriate opening is of the utmost importance for a player's success in a tournament.

Savielly Tartakower

#30. The tactician must know what to do whenever something needs doing; the strategist must know what to do when nothing needs doing

Savielly Tartakower

#31. Whenever Black succeeds in assuming the initiative in maintaining it to a successful conclusion, the sporting spirit of the chess lover feels gratified, because it shows that the resources of the game are far from being exhausted.

Savielly Tartakower

#32. It is said that an ounce of common sense can outweigh a ton of 'variations'.

Savielly Tartakower

#33. A Chess game is divided into three stages: the first, when you hope you have the advantage, the second when you believe you have an advantage, and the third ... when you know you're going to lose!

Savielly Tartakower