Garry Kasparov Quotes

Garry Kasparov shares fierce, competitive insights on nature, ambition, and reputation.

42 quotes

1. My nature is that I have to excite myself with a big challenge.

2. In conclusion, if you want to unravel the multitude of secrets of chess then don't begrudge the time.

3. Chess is mental torture.

4. Alekhine's attacks came suddenly, like destructive thunderstorms that erupted from a clear sky.

5. The depth of Tigran's approach to chess is the direct consequence of his clear mind and his rare insight into general aspects of chess, into subtleties of chess tactics and strategy. Petrosian performed a special kind of art in creating harmonious positions that were full of life, where apparent absence of superficial dynamism was compensated by enormous inner energy. Every subtle change in the position was always taken into consideration in the context of a complex strategy that was not obvious to his opponents.

6. What was the secret of Morphy's invincibility? I think it was a combination of a unique natural talent and brilliant erudition. His play was the next, more mature stage in the development of chess. Morphy had a well-developed feel for position, and therefore he can be confidently regarded as the first swallow - the prototype of the strong 20th century grandmaster.

7. I believe that judged by his style of play, Spassky is much closer to Alekhine and Tal than to Smyslov, Botvinnik, or Petrosian. This is probably why, when Spassky was in his best form, neither Tal nor Korchnoi could really put up much resistance against him. Spassky could read their play (especially that of Tal) like an open book.

8. The universal chess style, characterized by the ability to play quite different types of chess positions, is considered by many to derive from that of Boris Spassky. But I think that the general idea that Spassky has a universal style overlooks the fact that from an early age, Spassky had a bent for sharp, attacking play and a good eye for the initiative.

9. It is characteristic that Spassky has never in his life started a game with 1.Nf3. He must have considered it a 'semi-move', real moves being only those that lead to an immediate fight. All of those notorious opening peculiarities (such as avoiding this, that, and the other and preventing the other that and this) seemed repulsive to him.

10. Spassky was the first great chess player to use both 1.e4 and 1.d4 with equal success. He managed to employ these moves more harmoniously than any other world champion.

11. He was less concerned about the position's evaluation than about the character of the arising struggle. If he liked the character of the battle, he felt absolutely at home and, as a rule, didn't fail to outplay his opponents.

12. 'The future of chess lies in the hands of this young man' ~ Mikhail Botvinnik

13. 'He's a goddamn liar, Kasparov, he's a criminal' ~ Bobby Fischer

14. 'They're claiming that this criminal Jew Garry Kasparov -- his real name is Garry Weinstein -- is the World Champion. Which he's not, in any way. He's a common crook. He should be in prison. He should be in prison for his crimes. He has pre-arranged, in his life, thousands of games. Thousands of games. Every single tournament or match game he's ever played with Karpov was pre-arranged. Every goddamn game, and it was pre-arranged move by move. He is a crook on a big scale.' ~ Bobby Fischer

15. If you wish to succeed, you must brave the risk of failure.

16. It's interesting that the greatest minds of computer science, the founding fathers, like Alan Turing and Claude Shannon and Norbert Wiener, they all looked at chess as the ultimate test. So they thought, "Oh, if a machine can play chess, and beat strong players, set aside a world champion, that would be the sign of a dawn of the AI era." With all due respect, they were wrong.

17. If you don't take risks, you don't drink champagne.

18. Karabakh conflict has a strong influence on the political climate both in Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is obvious, too, that the Azerbaijani leadership can capitalize indefinitely on this topic to underpin its legitimacy even in a situation in which democratic institutions are virtually eliminated.

19. I would say, you have a unique chance of learning more about the game of chess with your computer than Bobby Fischer, or even myself, could manage throughout our entire lives. What is very important is that you will use this power productively and you will not be hijacked by the computer screen. Always keep your personality intact.

20. I think Russians today have a distorted picture of capitalism, liberal democracy and market economy.

21. I'm not paranoid, but I am cautious. I don't drink tea with strangers, I don't fly Aeroflot and I avoid certain countries with close ties to Russia.

22. My opponent is Short and the match will be short.

23. Russian Parliament today is a bunch of puppets that just fall in with the instructions from Kremlin.

24. Barack Obama took over after Vladimir Putin's first aggression, in Georgia. In 2009, he did the reset policy because they had these stupid ideas about former president Dmitry Medvedev. They thought he would be the leader, not Putin. Everyone played this game with Medvedev as their bet, Berlin, Paris, London, the idea of smoothly transferring to something more acceptable. It was always a charade, a Putin project to solidify his power and come back after four years of nominal occupation of the office by Medvedev.

25. Inevitably the machines must win, but there is still a long way to go before a human on his or her best day is unable to defeat the best computer.

26. In my opinion, using different kinds of epithets and adjectives in connection with the word democracy is a sign of mere hypocrisy, to put it mildly. Either there's democracy, or there isn't.

27. Chess strength in general and chess strength in a specific match are by no means one and the same thing.

28. Ratings are king and the money keeps flowing, and partisanship is so strong today that people rely on a few sources absolutely instead of thinking critically. So even being a cheerleader for a gameshow-host president with no respect for the rule of law or America's reputation in the world may not be a career-ending move.

29. At a certain point, the atmosphere in the West could change. But I don't see determined political will [for that] at the moment.

30. Though I would have liked my chances in a rematch in 1998 if I were better prepared, it was clear then that computer superiority over humans in chess had always been just a matter of time.

31. The handover of power to [Dmitry] Medvedev was rather painless, everybody thought that the waves would calm automatically. By now, it's quite clear that [Vladimir] Putin doesn't want to relinquish the levers of power.

32. Putin can't afford to leave the office because he will be in real danger of being prosecuted for things he and his people did during their stay in power.

33. Caissa, the goddess of chess, had punished me for my conservative play, for betraying my nature.

34. We must be optimistic about the future because it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we are creative and ambitious, intelligent machines will liberate us and be as profound a boon to our prosperity as electricity. If we are fearful, and fail to press ahead, we could be overwhelmed by automation and inequality.

35. When you put party over principles, you can't avoid tripping over your own hypocrisy and contradictions eventually. The GOP establishment refused to stand up to Trump during the primary because they wanted his voters in order to beat Hillary Clinton. Then he won the primary, and then the general, and the GOP both times decided it was better to cling to their grasp at power, to cling to Trump and all he stands for, a decision that should destroy the party or drag it down for a generation.

36. Recognise that the free world is at war with Putin, and America is the leader of the free world and should build the coalition against him. It is similar to what Harry Truman did in the Forties. They have to oppose the threat that comes from Putin and other dictators.

37. Throughout my chess career I sought out new challenges, looking for things no one had done before.

38. Right, left, Greens, Baathists, whatever: it comes down to grabbing and holding power and using ideology - or religion, race - as a justification.

39. The loss of my childhood was the price for becoming the youngest world champion in history. When you have to fight every day from a young age, your soul can be contaminated. I lost my childhood. I never really had it. Today I have to be careful not to become cruel, because I became a soldier too early.

40. Nowadays games immediately appear on the Internet and thus the life of novelties is measured in hours. Modern professionals do not have the right to be forgetful - it is 'life threatening'.

41. I have great energy and I have great tasks ahead of me.

42. I think Russian people are learning that democracy is not an alien thing; it's not a western invention.