From page 112 of The Bright Side of Chess by Irving
Chernev (Philadelphia, 1948 and London, 1952):
It requires only a moment’s attention to realize that whereas the
‘The Pawns are the soul of the game’ is validly ascribed to
Philidor, the eighteenth-century master had nothing to do with the
preceding quote, about skittles chess. Since not all chess writers
can spare a moment’s attention, the lay-out of the ‘Epigrams’
chapter of Chernev’s book has resulted in much confusion, and here
we take that chapter page by page and quote by quote:
‘The mistakes are all there ...’:Die Hypermoderne
Schachpartie by S. Tartakower (Vienna, 1924), page 90. See
The
Most Famous Chess Quotations.
‘In tournaments it is not enough ...’: Tarrasch did
indeed express such sentiments. See C.N.s 4877, 5121 and 10771,
as well as the feature article Siegbert
Tarrasch.
‘So set up your attacks ...’: Attributed to Pillsbury
by Napier, who knew him well. See our feature
article on Napier.
‘Lasker’s style was like ...’: The remark was made by
Mieses, and not Spielmann. See C.N. 7697.
‘In the opening a master ...’: Again, because of the
lay-out of Chernev’s book this remark has frequently been
attributed to Spielmann. It antedates him, having appeared as an
anonymous quote on page xiv of The Games of the St
Petersburg Tournament 1895-96 by J. Mason and W.H.K.
Pollock (Leeds, 1896). See page 182 of Chess Explorations
and Chess:
the Need for Sources.
‘From Anderssen I learned ...’: The question of whether
this quote should be ascribed to Spielmann was discussed in C.N.
4133.
‘Place the contents of the chessbox ...’: This quote
has a murky background. See page 12 of Hans Renette’s monograph
on Bird (Jefferson, 2016).
‘Of chess it has been said ...’: The quote has been
misattributed to Napier, the next name in Chernev’s book. See ‘Life’s
too short for chess’.
‘It is astonishing how much hot water ...’: For an
exact source for this remark by Napier, see our feature
article on him.
‘Commenting on the game Keres-Fine ...’: See page 105
of the September-October 1946 American Chess Bulletin.
‘Many have become chess masters ...’: No relevant
citation has yet been found. (See C.N.s 5525 and 11419.)
‘Lasker played 1 P-K4 ...’: See C.N. 9329.
‘First-class players lose ...’: This observation (with
‘frequently lose’ instead of ‘lose’) was one of six on page 119
of the American Chess Bulletin, June 1907. The source
specified was merely ‘Johannesburg Sunday Times’.
(Another quote from the same source was discussed in C.N.s 5308
and 7849.)
‘As Rousseau could not compose ...’: Tarrasch’s quote
was documented in our feature article on Jean-Jacques
Rousseau.
‘Nimzovich described someone as ...’: See C.N. 6723.
‘Marco summed up a position ...’: C.N. 11380 showed
that the remark was by Tarrasch, not Marco.
‘An excellent criticism ...’: Chernev quoted the remark
in his review of the Fine/Reinfeld book on Lasker on page 234 of
the October 1935 Chess Review. See too page 141 of the
book.
‘When an unimaginative player ...’: Reinfeld wrote the
remark on page 230 of the December 1934 Chess Review,
commenting on Black’s 18th move in Byrne v Dunst, New York,
1934.
‘The writer is guilty of saying ...’: Oral comment by
Chernev.
‘About a position where the Knights ...’: See C.N.
7856.
‘Buckle, chess player as well as eminent historian ...’:
Regarding the first two quotes, see page 10 of the April 1868 Westminster
Chess Club Papers, and page 50 of the August 1869 Westminster
Papers respectively. One of many places where ‘Chess
begins where he leaves off’ can be found is page 9 of A New
Treatise of Chess by George Walker (London, 1841).
‘The chessboard is the world ...’: The passage is
widely documented in the anthologized writings of Thomas Henry
Huxley.
‘Although Chess is classed ...’: The Napier text
(slightly different) is on page 21 of the American Chess
Bulletin, February 1906:
‘I can comprehend Alekhine’s combinations ...’: See
C.N.s 8579 and 8603.
‘A win by an unsound combination ...’: See C.N. 7308.
‘Every game of chess is ...’: This Réti quote comes
from his book Masters of the Chess Board.
‘My theory of a key move ...’:Lasker’s Chess
Magazine, December 1904, page 84. The text is given as a
quote by Loyd in an unsigned article about him (pages 83-85).
‘Never miss a check ...’: See page 342 of A Chess
Omnibus, as well as C.N.s 6416, 6432, 9094, 9377 and
10088.
‘In a gambit you give up ...’: See C.N.s 10087 and
10088.
‘Skittles are the social glasses ...’: See C.N. 9156
regarding this quote, which has often been misascribed to the
next person named in Chernev’s book: Philidor.
‘Chess books should be used ...’: See page 182 of Chess
Explorations, page 246 of Chess Facts and Fables
and C.N.s 3741, 4157, 4209 and 10959, as well as Chess:
the Need for Sources. Misattribution of this quote to
Capablanca (the next name in Chernev’s book) is still common.
‘A recorded game of chess ...’: This quote too has been
misascribed to Capablanca. See C.N. 10959 and Chess:
the Need for Sources.
‘There have been times in my life ...’: This passage
appeared in the Author’s note in Capablanca’s book My Chess
Career. See Chess:
the Need for Sources.
‘When Paulsen took an hour ...’: Citations sought.
‘I have been playing chess ...’: This passage comes
from the beginning of Marshall’s book My Fifty Years of
Chess.
‘In annotating a game ...’:Chess Review,
August-September 1945, page 16 (article by Fine).
‘This was Tarrasch’s biting comment ...’: See C.N. 5499
and our feature article Siegbert
Tarrasch.
‘The Pawn move is a capital investment ...’: Citation
sought.
‘Chess is a form of intellectual productiveness ...’:
From Tarrasch’s book The Game of Chess. See The
Most Famous Chess Quotations.
In some cases, readers may be able to provide better citations,
and such assistance will be much appreciated. We are also grateful
to the Cleveland Public Library for high-quality scans of the
Epigrams chapter in Irving Chernev’s book.
