by Spassky

 

There is only one thing in chess that Fischer does without pleasure - to lose !

 

When you play Bobby, it is not a question if you win or lose. It is a question if you survive.

 

I can't play with you because I don't understand the way you play or your train of thought.  -  (to Karpov)

 

After I won the title, I was confronted with the real world. People do not behave naturally anymore – hypocrisy is everywhere.

 

If they had played 150 games at full strength, they would be in a lunatic asylum by now.  -  (on Kasparov and Karpov, 1987)

 

The shortcoming of hanging pawns is that they present a convenient target for attack. As the exchange of men proceeds, their potential strength lessens and during the endgame they turn out, as a rule, to be weak.

 

The power of hanging pawns is based precisely in their mobility, in their ability to create acute situations instantly.

 

Often, in the Ruy Lopez, one must be patient, wait and carry on a lengthy and wearisome struggle.

 

He considered that chess was closest to an art, and he was able to demonstrate this with his optimistic, eternally youthful play.  -  (on Alekhine)

 

Bobby Fisher came back to chess! It was a miracle! I could never have missed it. No way!

 

The best indicator of a chess player's form is his ability to sense the climax of the game.

 

The best tournament that I have ever played in was in 1950. It was great – a waiter came to you during the game, and you could order anything you wanted to drink (even some vodka, if you liked). Pity, there are no longer tournaments organized in this manner…

on Spassky

 

When I began consciously working on myself and devising a universalism of the game, I did so mostly because Spassky's game was distinguished by universalism.  -  Anatoly Karpov

 

I consider myself to be an idler, too, but the dimensions of Spassky's laziness were astounding.  -  Anatoly Karpov

 

I'm not afraid of him. He's afraid of me. I'm not afraid of him.  - Bobby Fischer

 

I'm not afraid of Spassky. The world knows I'm the best. You don't need a match to prove it.  -  Bobby Fischer

 

Spassky sits at the board with the same dead expression whether he's mating or being mated.  -  Bobby Fischer

 

As a fellow traveller and a living witness of Spassky's progress, I can testify that I know no man who is more capable of self-perfection than Spassky.  -  Victor Kortchnoi

 

From being an average member of society - featureless, unreasoning, submissive - he has become an independent, discerning thinker, and has gradually turned into a dissident.  - Victor Kortchnoi