33 Quotes by Emanuel Lasker

By some ardent enthusiasts Chess has been elevated into a science or an art. It is neither; but its principal characteristic seems to be – what human nature mostly delights in – a fight.

The range of circumstances in which it is possible to presuppose the presence of a combination is very limited. The presence of such circumstances is the reason for the genesis of the idea in the master’s brain.

On the chessboard, lies and hypocrisy do not survive long.

The intelligent perusal of fine games cannot fail to make the reader a better player and a better judge of the play of others.

Loss generally occurs when a player overrates his advantage or for other reasons seeks to derive from a minute advantage a great return such as a forced win.

He who has a slight disadvantage plays more attentively, inventively and more boldly than his antagonist who either takes it easy or aspires after too much. Thus a slight disadvantage is very frequently seen to convert into a good, solid advantage.

I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake.

A chess game, after all, is a fight in which all possible factors must be made use of, and in which a knowledge of the opponent’s good and bad qualities is of the greatest importance.

To refer to the oft mooted question, “Which piece is stronger, the Bishop or the Knight?” it is clear that the value of the Bishop undergoes greater changes than that of the Knight.