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Combination is a soul of chess.

Alexander Alekhine

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Alexander Alekhine
Age: 53 †
Born: 1892
Born: October 10
Died: 1946
Died: March 24
Chess Player
Chess Theoretician
Jurist
Translator
Writer
Moscow
Russian SFSR
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
Combination
Chess
Soul

More quotes by Alexander Alekhine

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Chess, like other arts, must be practiced to be appreciated.
Alexander Alekhine
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In my opinion, a master is morally obliged to seize every sort of opportunity and to try to solve the problems of the position without fear of some simplifications.
Alexander Alekhine
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I study chess eight hours a day, on principle.
Alexander Alekhine
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For my victory over Capablanca I am indebted primarily to my superiority in the field of psychology. Capablanca played, relying almost exclusively on his rich intuitive talent. But for the chess struggle nowadays one needs a subtle knowledge of human nature, an understanding of the opponent's psychology.
Alexander Alekhine
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Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.
Alexander Alekhine
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The retreat of a minor piece to the back rank, where it cuts the lines of communication between the rooks, is permissable only in exceptional cases.
Alexander Alekhine
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You can become a big master in chess only if you see your mistakes and short-comings. Exactly the same as in life itself.
Alexander Alekhine
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I believe that true beauty of chess is more than enough to satisfy all possible demands.
Alexander Alekhine
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Psychology is the most important factor in chess.
Alexander Alekhine
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The fact that a player is very short of time is to my mind, as little to be considered as an excuse as, for instance, the statement of the law-breaker that he was drunk at the time he committed the crime.
Alexander Alekhine
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The infallible criterion by which to distinguish the true from the would-be strategist is the degree of originality of his conceptions. It makes little difference whether this originality is carried to excess, as was the case with Steinitz and Nimzowitsch.
Alexander Alekhine
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I did not believe I was superior to him. Perhaps the chief reason for his defeat was the overestimation of his own powers arising out of his overwhelming victory in New York, 1927, and his underestimation of mine.
Alexander Alekhine
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A lifetime in not enough to learn everything about chess.
Alexander Alekhine
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I have had to work long and hard to eradicate the dangerous delusion that, in a bad position, I could always, or nearly always, conjure up some unexpected combination to extricate me from my difficulties.
Alexander Alekhine
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I consider chess an art, and accept all those responsibilities which art places upon its devotees.
Alexander Alekhine
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During a chess tournament a master must envisage himself as a cross between an ascetic monk and a beast of prey.
Alexander Alekhine
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Capablanca was snatched too early from the chess world. With his death we have lost a great chess genius, the like of whom we will never see again.
Alexander Alekhine
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Playing for complications is an extreme measure that a player should adopt only when he cannot find a clear and logical plan.
Alexander Alekhine
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During a Chess competition a Chessmaster should be a combination of a beast of prey and a monk
Alexander Alekhine
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Never before and never since have I seen - and I cannot even imagine, such an amazing rapidity of chess thinking that Capablanca possessed in 1913-14. In blitz games he gave all the St. Petersburg players odds of five minutes to one - and he won.
Alexander Alekhine