MARK RUBERY CHESS

Chess inspires a variety of comments from its vassals. Here follows an interesting selection.

“I am fully and entirely concentrated on the board. I never even consider my opponent’s personality. So far as I am concerned, my opponent might as well be an abstraction or an automaton.” – Wilhelm Steinitz

“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.” - Emanual Lasker

“Perhaps the most important trait a player needs is a warped sense of humour.” Tony Miles

If you have made a mistake or committed an inaccuracy there is no need to become annoyed and to think that everything is lost. You have to reorient yourself quickly and find a new plan in the new situation.”

David Bronstein

“Chess is my profession. I am my own boss; I am free. I like literature and music, classical especially. I am in fact quite normal; I have a Bohemian profession without myself being a Bohemian. I am neither a conformist nor a great revolutionary.”

Bent Larsen

Devastating moves are like dissonant sounds; they shatter the eardrums. Their appeal is to an atavistic brutality in our natures, not to our finer sensibilities. In contrast, a “quiet” move is the epitome of finesse. A soft answer turns away wrath, but its subdued quality makes it no less efficient.” Hans Kmoch

The following puzzle was eventually solved by the regulars at the Madeira Bar after 45 minutes…

WHITE TO PLAY AND WIN

‘Chess slays boredom and exhilarates the spirit. You’re always thinking, always in present time. You know you’re alive. You’re always being challenged and threatened. There is no social purpose, only the joy of creating a pocket of beauty in a noisy world!’ (Larry Evans)