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Every great master will find it useful to have his own theory on the openings, which only he himself knows, a theory which is closely linked with plans for the middle game.

Mikhail Botvinnik

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Mikhail Botvinnik
Age: 83 †
Born: 1911
Born: August 17
Died: 1995
Died: May 5
Chess Coach
Chess Composer
Chess Player
Electrical Engineer
Engineer
Writer
Kuokkala
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik
Games
Chess
Find
Opening
Great
Master
Every
Masters
Plans
Openings
Theory
Closely
Game
Linked
Middle
Useful

More quotes by Mikhail Botvinnik

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I only think well when my mind is calm.
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When my opponent's clock is going I discuss general considerations in an internal dialogue with myself. When my own clock is going I analyse conctrete variations.
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I ... have two vocations: chess and engineering. If I played chess only, I believe that my success would not have been significantly greater. I can play chess well only when I have fully convalesced from chess and when the 'hunger for chess' once more awakens within me.
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If you are going to make your mark among masters, you have to work far harder and more intensively, or, to put it more exactly, the work is far more complex than that needed to gain the title of Master.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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Chess is no whit inferior to the violin, and we have a large number of professional violinists
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It must be clearly understood that Soviet players do not seek simple systems in the opening, but try to formulate opening systems in which everything is complicated, distinctive, or new.
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Chess mastery essentially consists of analyzing Chess positions accurately
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Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic.
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Everything is in a state of flux, and this includes the world of Chess
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You have to accustom yourself to practical study at home, you have to devote time to studies, to the history of chess, the development of chess theory, of chess culture.
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Chess, like any creative activity, can exist only through the combined efforts of those who have creative talent, and those who have the ability to organize their creative work
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In short, we can see Karpov as an exploiter of other people’s ideas. His ability to use these ideas is not at issue, but he himself is about as fertile as a woman who has been sterilized is.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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Before Geller we did not understand the King's Indian Defence.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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Capablanca's play produced and still produces an irresistable artistic effect. In his games a tendency towards simplicity predominated, and in this simplicity there was a unique beauty of genuine depth.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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Don't worry kids, you'll find work. After all, my machine will need strong chess player-programmers. You will be the first.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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Along with my retirement from chess analytical work seems to have gone too.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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Chess is the art of analysis.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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If you are weak in the endgame, you must spend more time analysing studies in your training games you must aim at transposing to endgames, which will help you to acquire the requisite experience.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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Memorization of variations could be even worse than playing in a tournament without looking in the books at all.
Mikhail Botvinnik
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The triumph of the analytical movement, which formed in the '30's and '40's, was precisely what earned the Soviet masters the acclaim of chessplayers the world over. Unfortunately, it must also be noted that, for today's chessmasters, the watchword is practicality.
Mikhail Botvinnik