The task of the positional player is systematically to accumulate slight advantages and try to convert temporary advantages into permanent ones, otherwise the player with the better position runs the risk of losing it.
Wilhelm SteinitzRead
Chess is not for the faint-hearted; it absorbs a person entirely. To get to the bottom of this game, he has to give himself up into slavery. Chess is difficult, it demands work, serious reflection and zealous research.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Chess requires total commitment and deep intellectual engagement.
The quote illustrates the intensity and dedication required to truly understand and excel at chess. It emphasizes that the game is not merely a casual pastime but a serious pursuit that demands one's full mental investment, hard work, and strategic study to master.
Themes
ChessCommitmentStrategyIntellectDedication
In practice
Example use cases
In a conversation about strategy games, one might say, 'As Wilhelm Steinitz noted, chess is not for the faint-hearted; it fully absorbs one's intellect.'
More from Wilhelm Steinitz
All quotes →Chess is so inspiring that I do not believe a good player is capable of haviong an evil thought during the game.
Wilhelm SteinitzRead
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Knowledge is like a knife. In the hands of a well-balanced adult it is an instrument for good of inestimable value; but in the hands of a child, an idiot, a criminal, a drunkard or an insane man, it may cause havoc, misery, suffering and crime. Science and religion have this in common, that their noble aims, their power for good, have often, with wrong men, deteriorated into a boomerang to the human race.
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