Sixty Memorable Annotations Index

#1: Sherwin slid the Rook here with his pinky, as if to emphasize the cunning of this mysterious move.
Bobby Fischer on Fischer - Sherwin, New Jersey Open 1957


#2: It was this position which Geller saw in my room that morning. And yet 25 moves have already been made!
Lev Polugaevsky on Polugaevsky-Tal, Soviet Championship 1969


#3: I often tell my students that good players are like monsters from horror movies. You can shoot them and stab them but they won't lie down and even after they are confirmed dead they keep coming after you. So never relax!
Simon Agdestein


#4: The position is now objectively drawn, but I was very determined to win. My long-term plan consisted of winning the a-pawn, winning the bishop for my pawn and, eventually, winning with rook and bishop against rook. Let us evaluate the position. I will not win the a-pawn, I will not win the bishop and, even if I did, the position would still be a theoretical draw. That would be the objective evaluation.

Real life experience, however, tells us something completely different ....
Jacob Aagaard on Aagaard-van der Berg, Wijk aan Zee 2001


#5: Oh no, not a rook ending. I hate these rook endings, just so you know.
Jesper Hall on Salov-Gligoric, Belgrade 1987


#6: White’s control of the position is so great that he could inscribe his initials on the board with his king if he wanted.
Michael Stean on Botvinnik-Szilagyi, Amsterdam 1966


#7: This is probably the best move in the position if you are of equal strength to your opponent but ... it is often in the stronger player's interest to exchange bishop for knight ....
Jacob Aagaard on Shliperman-Yermolinsky, Philadelphia 1997


#8: If you play the Dutch you have to accept the element of risk. Some years ago I heard a young player moaning to British GM Jonathan Mestel that he had played the risky Sicilian Dragon and been wiped off the board. Mestel, himself a Dragon aficionado replied calmly ‘think of all the draws you have avoided by playing the Dragon’
Neil McDonald on the Dutch Defence


#9: This is the privilege of the attacking player in these situations. Before trying his main winning try, Miles first goes around in circles, giving his opponent maximum opportunity to go wrong.
John Emms on Matulovic-Miles, Birmingham 1975


#10: Thomas Ernst was a big expert on the Dragon, but it was also in my repertoire, so I decided to play it anyway "to learn something". The main thing I learned was not to be naive.
Jacob Aagaard on Ernst - Aagaard, Copenhagen 1991


#11: Were White to play, he would immediately draw after 1 Kg3 and 2 h3.
Jesus de la Villa


#12: At first sight a strong move, but the knight only looks good on d5.
Ivan Cheparinov on Polgar - Topalov, San Luis 2005


#13: The Classical Dutch is a pretty rare bird these days. According to Jan Pinski's 2002 book on the opening (Classical Dutch, Everyman £14.99), I am just about the only top player who would consider playing it. If so, it is in need of new advocates because I abandoned it years ago. Having said that, it is only a little dubious, rather than plain unsound. Furthermore, few White players are familiar with its subtleties.
Nigel Short on Ward - Williams, British Championships 2004


#14: This move, suggested by Hort, was specially prepared by Korchnoi before this match. The plan is to cramp Black's queenside pawns.
Ray Keene on Korchnoi - Spassky (7), Belgrade 1977


#15: Here I had a long think.
Jon Speelman on Speelman - Sokolov. A, Brussels


#16: An important branch of endings of this type is the endgame with the BP and RP pair, which as been met repeatedly in tournament practice. When Marshall drew such an ending at San Sebastian in 1911 against Rubinstein, theoreticians set about a detailed analysis of it. Spielmann, Rabinovich, Belavenets, Maizelis, Zek, Keres and finally Botvinnik together with Ragozin and Flohr discovered many interesting ideas. All the same, far from everything is clear in the assessment of this ending.
Levenfish and Smyslov on rook plus f&h pawns against rook


#17: The tablebase tells us the fastest win starts with 82 Rg7, from a human point of view of course 82 Re7 is much more sensible, preventing the Black king from joining the action.
Jonathan Hawkins on Alekhine - Capablanca, Buenos Aires World Championship 1927