Chess is a part of culture and if a culture is declining then Chess too will decline

- Mikhail Botvinnik

If Tal sacrifices a piece, take it. If Petrosian sacrifices a piece, don't take it.

- Mikhail Botvinnik

Chess is the art of analysis.

- Mikhail Botvinnik

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 pla…

- Mikhail Botvinnik

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

Chess cannot be taught. Chess can only be learned.

- Mikhail Botvinnik

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 o…

- Mikhail Botvinnik

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 conctret…

- Mikhail Botvinnik

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 p…

- Mikhail Botvinnik