Chess sharpens the mind, stimulates concentration, improves the memory and promotes visualization.

By playing slowly during the early phases of a game I am able to grasp the basic requirements of each position. Then, despite being in time pressure, I have no difficulty in finding the best continuation. Incidentally, it is an odd fact that more often than not it is my opponent who gets the jitters when I am compelled to make these hurried moves.

Good players develop a tactical instinct, a sense of what is possible or likely and what is not worth calculating.

We often hear the terms 'positional' and 'tactical' used as opposites. But this is as wrong as to consider a painting's composition unrelated to its subject. Just as there is no such thing as 'artistic' art, so there is no such thing as 'positional' chess.

It often happens that a player is so fond of his advantageous position that he is reluctant to transpose to a winning endgame.

The knight is renowned for, among other things, its suitability as a blockader ... Because its strength lies in short-range operations it is not uncomfortable standing in a single spot for long periods, as the Bishop is.

No matter how much theory progresses, how radically styles change, chess play is inconceivable without tactics.