Above all else, before playing in competitions a player must have regard to his health, for if he is suffering from ill-health he cannot hope for success. In this connection the best of all tonics is 15 to 20 days in the fresh air, in the country. Mikhail Botvinnik More Quotes by Mikhail Botvinnik More Quotes From Mikhail Botvinnik Chess is the art which expresses the science of logic. Mikhail Botvinnik logicchessart 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 traininggameschess If Tal sacrifices a piece, take it. If Petrosian sacrifices a piece, don't take it. Mikhail Botvinnik sacrificepiecesifs Chess cannot be taught. Chess can only be learned. Mikhail Botvinnik taughtchess 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. Mikhail Botvinnik variationopponentstime Chess mastery essentially consists of analyzing Chess positions accurately Mikhail Botvinnik masteryanalysischess 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 issuespeopleideas 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. Mikhail Botvinnik engineeringsuccessbelieve 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 Mikhail Botvinnik effortcreativesuccess Chess is the art of analysis. Mikhail Botvinnik analysischessart 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 gainschesssuccess Yes, I have played a blitz game once. It was on a train, in 1929. Mikhail Botvinnik blitzgameschess Chess is a part of culture and if a culture is declining then Chess too will decline Mikhail Botvinnik declinechessculture 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 middlegameschess 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. Mikhail Botvinnik playersimpletrying Suddenly it was obvious to me in my analysis I had missed what Mikhail Botvinnik analysisboardschess The boy (then a 12 year old boy named Anatoly Karpov)doesn't have a clue about Chess, and there's no future at all for him in this profession Mikhail Botvinnik chessboysyears I claim that nothing else is so effective in encouraging the growth of chess strength as such independent analysis, both of the games of the great players and your own. Mikhail Botvinnik independentplayergames It is a well known fact that almost all the outstanding chess-players have been first-class analysts. Mikhail Botvinnik playerchessclass Capablanca's phenomenal move-searching algorithm in those early years, when he possessed a wonderful ability for calculating variations very rapidly, made him invincible. Mikhail Botvinnik variationyearsmoving
