MARK RUBERY CHESS
The acclaimed chess historian Edward Winter has compiled a number of declarations from players who have decided to retire from the game. As you can see few if any have thus far been as committed to this course of action as Kasparov was when he announced his retirement from serious chess at the conclusion of the 2005 Linares tournament. Mikhail Botvinnik
‘I decided to give up chess.’ (Typically direct and with no frills from the patriarch of Soviet chess). Thus wrote Botvinnik in his autobiography Achieving the Aim. The period in question was 1946.
José Raúl Capablanca
In a statement dated 13 March 1924 which was published in the American Chess Bulletin of that year, Capablanca declared: ‘I wish to announce that it is extremely doubtful if ever again I participate in an international tournament. Only the fact that New York, 1924 was the first big tournament in the United States for the last 20 years made me come to play, as for the last year, since my father’s death, I had decided to practically retire from hard chess competition. I expect in the future to play only occasionally in public exhibitions.
Wilhelm Steinitz
As quoted in the December 1891 International Chess Magazine Steinitz wrote:
‘... I beg to state that I shall most probably adhere to my intention of retiring from active play altogether, but I do not wish to stand pledged either way.’
Emanuel Lasker
This text appeared in February 1931 American Chess Bulletin: ‘The organization of the chess world at present is not favourable to that small group of men that I shall call ‘creative masters’. Hence I had time to devote myself to other occupations that now consume all my attention’.
Frank Marshall
When asked for his reasons for retirement Marshall said: “The game is too absorbing. To play it one must devote to it all of his time. No game in the world calls for such deep study and devotion as chess, and while I love it there are other things that must occupy my attention. I have private business responsibilities which suffer from the game, so I decided to quit playing for good.” Reuben Fine
He was the only one of the above to stick to his intention of retiring from the game. “Earlier this year he had decided to give up chess as a profession and complete his studies in mathematics (he was to become an accomplished psychiatrist later cynically described as ‘a loss for chess and at best a draw for psychiatry’). Last May he had asked the AVRO committee to release him, but was forced to live up to his contractual agreement to play.”-Tartakower in 1938
WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN
Do not pick a move from a list of computer lines - use your own brains. This is important, especially for young players. It’s better to study a worse line well than to reproduce a better computer line. - Laszlo Hazai