Quotes

The Fog of War

“War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. A sensitive and discriminating judgment is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth.”

― Carl von Clausewitz, Prussian general and military theorist

Fortune

“Sometimes when Fortune scowls most spitefully, she is preparing her most dazzling gifts.”

― Winston Churchill, British prime minister

Permutations

“I want to keep the old chess game. But just making a change so the starting positions are mixed, so it’s not degenerated down to memorization and prearrangement like it is today.”

― Bobby Fischer, American chess grandmaster and the inventor of what is now called Chess960 and Freestyle Chess

Is chess a game?

“No, No, chess is not a game. Chess is a well-defined form of computation. You may not be able to work out the answers, but in theory there must be a solution, a right procedure in any position. Now, real games,’ he said, ‘are not like that at all. Real life is not like that. Real life consists of bluffing, of little tactics of deception, of asking yourself what is the other man going to think I mean to do. And that is what games are about in my theory.”

― John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician, game theorist, etc.

War

“War is a profane thing.”

― Norman Schwarzkopf, American general

Resources

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”

― Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and president

Life and backgammon

“Life, like backgammon, is constant decision-making under uncertainty.”

― Neil Kazaross, American backgammon player

Game changers

“Chess has a tiny number of degrees of freedom compared to reality: only 64 squares, no fog of war, no tech tree, no terrain differences, same starting pieces & positions every time and you can’t invent new pieces during the game. All of those factors and more are present in reality. […] “

― Elon Musk, African-American business person

Quickness

“Quickness is the essence of the war.”

― Sun Tzu, Chinese general and military theorist

Melancholy

“Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.“

― Duke of Wellington, British general

Endgame

“In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else. For whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and opening must be studied in relation to the end game.”

― José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban chess grandmaster

Planning

“No plan survives contact with the enemy.”

― Erwin Rommel, German general

Reason & logic

“I’ve always believed in numbers and the equations and logics that lead to reason. But after a lifetime of such pursuits, I ask, what truly is logic? Who decides reason?”

― John Nash, American mathematician

The Devil is in the detail

“In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes.”

― Julius Caesar, Roman general and emperor

The enemy

“In my profession you have to mystify the enemy.”

― Bernard Law Montgomery, British general

All or nothing

“Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.”

― George Patton, American general

Beautiful game

“Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it’s OK to lose. I don’t. You have to be merciless.”

― Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess grandmaster

Patience

“Lack of patience is probably the most common reason for losing a game, or drawing games that should have been won.”

― Bent Larsen, Danish chess grandmaster

Lion or sheep

“I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”

― Alexander the Great, Macedonian general

Learning curve

“You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war.”

― Napoleon Bonaparte, French general

War room

“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room.”

― Merkin Muffley, American president (fictitious) in “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”

Soldiers

“The war is started by career soldiers, and finished by teachers, engineers, accountants.”

― Valery Zaluzhny, Ukranian general

Probability

“You can influence the law of probability with your mind [sic!].”

― Baron Vernon Ball, American backgammon writer

Stamina

“I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake.”

― Emanuel Lasker, German chess champion and mathematician

Task

“It is not the business of generals to shoot one another.”

― Duke of Wellington, British general

Missiles

“Can’t we disarm the missiles?”

― General Beringer, Americal general (fictitious) in “Wargames”

Resources

“The sinews of war are five – men, money, materials, maintenance (food) and morale.”

― Ernest Hemingway, American writer

Attitude

“The public was smiling, Tom was smiling, I was smiling… but I was smiling because I was winning!”

― Anna Cramling, Swedish chess player and chess personality

Dedication

“A battle is won by him who is firmly resolved to win it.”

― Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist (War and Peace)

Diplomacy

“Diplomacy without arms is like music without instruments.”

Frederick the Great, King of Prussia

POWs

“Throughout the war, it was always my endeavor to view my opponent without animus, and to form an opinion of him as a man on the basis of the courage he showed. I would always try and seek him out in combat and kill him, and I expected nothing else from him. But never did I entertain mean thoughts of him. When prisoners fell into my hands, later on, I felt responsible for their safety, and would always do everything in my power for them.”

― Ernst Jünger, German soldier and author (Storm of Steel)

Luck

“Fortune favors the prepared mind.”

― Louis Pasteur, French natural scientist

Game-based education

“I don’t know with which games World War II is taught, but World War III will be taught with Mancala!”

― Soren Jensen, Danish game designer of Endgame (paraphrasing Albert Einstein)

Time

“The penalty for exceeding the time limit is the forfeiture of the game.”

― Howard Staunton, chess player and the designer of the famous chess set

A winning strategy

“Attack! Always Attack!”

― Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen, German chess master

Ranking

“The process of rating players can be compared to the measurement of the position of a cork bobbing up and down on the surface of agitated water with a yard stick tied to a rope and which is swaying in the wind.”

― Arpad Elo, Hungarian-American physics professor and the creator of the Elo chess rating system

Unknown unknowns

“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”

― Donald Rumsfeld, American Secretary of Defense

One bad move

“It is axiomatic in chess that it is easier to achieve a winning game than to win it. One bad move nullifies 40 good ones, and precision technique is of the essence even when the game is well in hand.”

― Israel Albert Horowitz, American chess master

Chess and love

“Chess, like love, is infectious at any age.”

― Salomon Mikhailovich Flohr, Czechoslovakian chess master

Ingenio et armis

“With wisdom and weapons.”

― Motto of The Royal Danish Military Academy

Daring ideas

“Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten, but they may start a winning game.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet, etc.

Blunders

“Blunders rarely travel alone.”

― Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess grandmaster

Human nature

“The human element, the human flaw and the human nobility – those are the reasons that chess matches are won or lost.”

― Viktor Korchnoi, Russian-Swiss chess grandmaster

Perseverence

“The most important quality a chess player can have is perseverance. You have to keep pushing forward, even when things seem impossible.”

― Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster

Igitur qui desiderat pacem praeparet bellum

“if you want peace, prepare for war.”

― Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Latin writer (De Re Militare, often quoted as: “Si vis pacem, para bellum“)

Dark forest

“You must take your opponent into a deep dark forest where 2 + 2 = 5, and the path leading out is only wide enough for one.”

― Mikhail Tal, Russian-Latvian chess grandmaster

The winner takes it all

“A battle that you win cancels any other bad action of yours. In the same way, by losing one, all the good things worked by you before become vain.”

― Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian diplomat (The Art of War)

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“War is beautiful for those who do not know it.“

― Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dutch philosopher

Assumption

“Assumption is the mother of all screw-ups.”

― Levon Aronian, American-Armenian chess grandmaster

Luck and skills

“From the cradle to the grave Egyptians play Backgammon, the game of the great Pharaohs. They play well, they play rapidly, they play quietly; they smile and talk a little and they never complain of their luck. They smoke their narguilés and drink their café turc. They believe that luck and skill is the just, the inevitable, reward of the skillful.”

― Georges Mabardi, American-Egyptian backgammon writer

Surrounded

“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time!”

― Lewis B. Chesty Puller, American lieutenant general

Ability counts

“Win with ability, not with numbers.”

― Aleksandr V. Suvorov, Russian general

War and peace

“If you wish for peace, understand war.”

― Basil Henry Liddell Hart, British captain and military theorist

Officers

“Officers don’t run, only corporals do that.”

― Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish military commander

War and chess

“Knights are cavalry, bishops are archers, rooks are cannons and queens are wizards.”

― Jacob Aagaard, Danish-Scottish chess grandmaster

Disposition

“The choice of opening, whether to aim for quiet or risky play, depends not only on the style of a player, but also on the disposition with which he sits down at the board.”

― Efim Geller, Russian chess grandmaster

Priorities

“I need ammunition, not a ride.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Ukranian president

Curiosity

“Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas.”

― Marie Skłodowska Curie, French-Polish scientist

Outcomes

“I’m always trying to calculate the mathematical probability of certain outcomes.”

― Paul Allen, American computer programmer

Mind over matter

“Engage your brain before you engage your weapon.”

― Jim Mattis, American general

Impossible mission

““I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution.”

― Wernher von Braun, German-American space engineer

Threats

“If you make ten threats in a row, your opponent is bound to blunder eventually.”

― Garry Kasparov, Russian chess grandmaster