Chess is not for timid souls.

quote by Wilhelm Steinitz
Added by Lucian Velea
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Queen of tango

I swap ten of my stories for one letter from you.
Letter and gingerbread heart with a mirror in it.
I want to do the tango, I'm tired of chess.
We can: Hidalgo, guitar and Argentina are close
for the souls that fly across the ocean.
Chess is better: a game in which the queen checkmates the king.
But the queen wants to dance, not play.
Make a move and dance, and I'm going to watch.
The queen goes to the dance floor with a pawn.
Here is my castle shooting at your pawn.
The pawn falls; the queen is going for a new one.
The king resigns: Do not go for a new pawn, we will do the tango.

Renku poetry: Tanja Bulovic Johannesburg
Zoran Jankovic Beograd

poem by Jankovic Zoran
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Bobby Fischer has an enormous knowledge of chess and his familiarity with the chess literature of the USSR is immense.

quote by Boris Spassky
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In Kansas I have a chess school.

quote by Anatoly Karpov
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Chess is intellectual gymnastics.

quote by Wilhelm Steinitz
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The Drop In Game

Two curious monkeys sat up in a palm tree
watching two Russian men playing chess.
Everyday they watched the Russians play
until a winner was declared the best.

The next day a Russian sat alone at the table
with the chess pieces set out to play.
A monkey dropped in and sat opposite him
and a game of chess got under way.

For over a week they played each other
until the monkey won five games to three.
The next day a lone monkey sat at the table
until its friend dropped down from a tree.

For two weeks they played each other
with every game resulting in a draw.
The monkeys that sat around watching
applauded and wanted to see more.

[...] Read more

poem by Orlando Belo
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People are governed with the head; kindness of heart is little use in chess.

quote by Nicolas Chamfort
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On the Lake (1)

Mountain monks facing chess sit
Board on bamboo dark quiet
Shine bamboo no person see
Sometimes hear down chess piece sound
Two monks sit facing, playing chess on the mountain,
The bamboo shadow on the board is dark and clear.
Not a person sees the bamboo's shadow,
One sometimes hears the pieces being moved.

poem by Bai Juyi
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Chess is the gymnasium of the mind.

quote by Adolf Anderssen
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We can compare classical chess and rapid chess with theatre and cinema - some actors don't like the latter and prefer to work in the theatre.

quote by Boris Spassky
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Chess is not only knowledge and logic.

quote by Alexander Alekhine
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In life, as in chess, forethought wins.

quote by Charles Roberts Buxton
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I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.

quote by Marcel Duchamp
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I may play some exhibition games so I don't want to quit the game of chess completely. I just decided and it's a firm decision not to play competitive chess anymore.

quote by Garry Kasparov
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Ensemble is hard to do. It's like 3-D chess.

quote by Eric Bogosian
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But it's also because of something personal. My mother and father met while playing chess, so I've always had a fondness for the game. If it weren't for chess, I might not be here.

quote by Dorothy Dunnett
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Shaky Are the Checkers

Shaky are the checkers,
Opponents...
In a game of chess!

How can a rook,
Be mistaken for a bishop?
A strategy 'appearing' to be weak...
As the knight leaps,
To retrieve the pawn.
And put the queen in check!

Yet,
The king of the game...
Has not fallen to sleep.
His eyes are wide open...
Knowing wherever he goes,
Not protecting the queen's steps...
Would certainly meet with defeat!

'Checkmate!

[...] Read more

poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Expedience Ruling

He was in exile, the last nail looming over coffin.
He was slaughtered for the gain offered.
Gratitude was in gambit, expedience in offing.
By whom one stood by him was the one slain.
[He was promoted and sent away]

poem by Rm. Shanmugam Chettiar
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Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.

quote by Alexander Alekhine
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On the other hand, chess is a mass sport now and for chess organisers shorter time control is obviously more attractive. But I think that this control does not suit World Championship matches.

quote by Boris Spassky
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