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  1. Bent Larsen's Best Games
    2 games, 1953-1971

  2. Boris Spassky's Best Games
    The best games of Spassky's career.

    Chess is like life. - Boris Spassky

    Which do I prefer? Sex or chess? It depends on the position. - Boris Spassky

    When I am in form, my style is a little bit stubborn, almost brutal. Sometimes I feel a great spirit of fight which drives me on. – Boris Spassky

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

    In my country, at that time, being a champion of chess was like being a King. At that time I was a King … and when you are King you feel a lot of responsibility, but there is nobody there to help you. - Boris Spassky

    I don’t want ever to be champion again. - Boris Spassky

    I enjoy life, sometimes with a good bottle of wine! But don't count on me in tournaments that demand a lot of nervous energy, like the French championship. I am empty; these are not for me anymore. - Boris Spassky

    The Cary Grant of the 64 Squares. - Larry Parr

    Highly cultured with interests in all fields of human knowledge, a man of impeccable comportment, great modesty ... one of the favorites of all chessplayers. - Max Euwe

    When Spassky offers you a piece, you may just as well resign. – Miguel Najdorf

    I believe that judged by his style of play, Spassky is much closer to Alekhine and Tal than to Smyslov, Botvinnik, or Petrosian. This is probably why, when Spassky was in his best form, neither Tal nor Korchnoi could really put up much resistance against him. Spassky could read their play (especially that of Tal) like an open book. – Garry Kasparov

    The universal chess style, characterized by the ability to play quite different types of chess positions, is considered by many to derive from that of Boris Spassky. But I think that the general idea that Spassky has a universal style overlooks the fact that from an early age, Spassky had a bent for sharp, attacking play and a good eye for the initiative. – Garry Kasparov

    It is characteristic that Spassky has never in his life started a game with 1.Nf3. He must have considered it a “semi-move”, real moves being only those that lead to an immediate fight. All of those notorious opening peculiarities (such as avoiding this, that, and the other and preventing the other that and this) seemed repulsive to him. – Garry Kasparov

    Spassky was the first great chess player to use both 1.e4 and 1.d4 with equal success. He managed to employ these moves more harmoniously than any other world champion. – Garry Kasparov

    One of the soundest attacking players ever, Spassky nonetheless took very few chances. Totally dominant until he lost to the irresistible juggernaut known as Bobby Fischer. After that loss, he was never the same. – Bruce Pandolfini

    Spassky sacrifices his pieces with the utmost imperturbability. He can blunder away a piece, and you are never sure whether it's a blunder or a fantastically deep sacrifice. He sits at the board with the same dead expression whether he's mating or being mated. – Bobby Fischer

    Spassky is also a correct player, in this 'classical' aspect he is like Smyslov. But whereas Smyslov is a sedate player, Spassky has an attacking style. He combines the qualities of different chess players. Like Alekhine he values time. He is a very good strategic player. His games are pleasant to watch: he uses the whole board. He manages to deal with everything, grabs space, turns on the pressure here and there... - Vladimir Kramnik

    He was less concerned about the position’s evaluation than about the character of the arising struggle. If he liked the character of the battle, he felt absolutely at home and, as a rule, didn’t fail to outplay his opponents. – Garry Kasparov (on Spassky)

    Games to add:
    J Polgar vs Spassky, 1993

    122 games, 1949-2001

  3. Botvinnik Memorial 2001
    20 games, 2001

  4. Brilliant Miniatures
    Some of the greatest miniatures ever played.
    132 games, 1620-2008

  5. Brussels Blitz 1987
    121 games, 1987

  6. Cannes World Cup Rapid 2001
    77 games, 2001

  7. Capablanca Structure
    13 games, 1910-2013

  8. Caro-Kann Advance Variation
    1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5


    click for larger view


    78 games, 1965-2011

  9. Caro-Kann Panov Botvinnik
    1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4


    click for larger view


    18 games, 1934-2009

  10. Catalan
    1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 d5 4 Bg2


    click for larger view


    50 games, 1937-2011

  11. Classical Sicilian, 6.Bc4
    33 games, 1930-2019

  12. Closed Sicilian
    26 games, 1958-2007

  13. David Bronstein's Best Games
    The best games of Bronstein's career.
    51 games, 1941-1991

  14. Defensive Themes
    23 games, 1926-2018

  15. Dutch Defence
    22 games, 1927-2006

  16. Efim Geller's Best Games
    The best games of Geller's career.
    66 games, 1949-1992

  17. Emanuel Lasker's Best Games
    The best games of Lasker's career.

    Chess is a contest between creative minds representative of their period. – Emanuel Lasker

    I, who vanquished Steinitz, must see to it that his great achievement, his theories, should find justice, and I must avenge the wrongs he suffered. – Emanuel Lasker

    I keep on fighting as long as my opponent can make a mistake. – Emanuel Lasker

    Dr. Tarrasch is a thinker, fond of deep and complex speculation. He will accept the efficacy and usefulness of a move if at the same time he considers it beautiful and theoretically right. But I accept that sort of beauty only if and when it happens to be useful. He admires an idea for its depth, I admire it for its efficacy. My opponent believes in beauty, I believe in strength. I think that by being strong, a move is beautiful too. – Emanuel Lasker

    Of my 57 years, I’ve applied at least 30 to forgetting most of what I learned or read, and since I succeeded in this I have acquired a certain ease and cheer which I should never again like to be without. If need be, I can increase my skill in chess, if need be I can do that of which I have no idea present. I have stored little in my memory, but I can apply that little, and it is of good use in many and varied emergencies. I keep it in order, but resist every attempt to increase its dead weight. – Emanuel Lasker

    It is too beautiful to spend your life upon. Many times have I managed to break with chess, yet I have always fallen in love with it again. I was too captivated by the conflict between ideas and opinions, attack and defence, life and death. – Emanuel Lasker

    I will not suffer liars in my house! – Emanuel Lasker (on throwing away an expensive mantel clock that kept time poorly)

    Such was my play when I was still a youngster. The rest is history. – Emanuel Lasker (as an old man showing some of his games to someone who didn't realize who he was)

    A King of chess. – Emanuel Lasker (his final words on his deathbed)

    Tarrasch teaches knowledge, Lasker teaches wisdom. – Fred Reinfeld

    As I pored over the games of the great masters, two styles appealed to me above all others: Lasker and Steinitz. In Lasker I saw, above all, the supreme tactical genius. Whether a game was won or lost mattered little to him; he fought on to get the most out of every position. And in Steinitz I saw the master of consistency; he had a plan from the beginning of the game, and would stick to it, regardless of the consequences. – Reuben Fine

    Steinitz always looked for the objectively right move. Tarrasch always claimed to have found the objectively right move. Lasker did nothing of the kind. He never bothered about what might or might not be the objectively right move; all he cared for was to find whatever move was likely to be most embarrassing for the specific person sitting on the other side of the board. – Jacques Hannak

    Although he had a great grasp and appreciation of Steinitz' theories, Lasker always played the man as well as the board. – Dave Regis

    Lasker could make a mistake and smile, knowing that perfection is not granted to mortal man. – Reuben Fine

    Lasker won so many games from bad positions that he was accused by at least one opponent of witchcraft, by another of hypnotism and by many more as being grossly over-endowed with good luck. In fact, he often deliberately courted difficult positions because he understood the mental stress that can be built up in the mind of an attacker when he meets with a resolute defense. By building up an opponent's hopes and then placing a trail of difficulties in his path, Lasker would induce feelings of doubt, confusion and finally panic. In his own terminology, Lasker was deliberately avoiding "eumachic" strategies because they tended to guide the opponent too easily towards "eumachic" replies. An "amachic" move here and there, however, may introduce just the "jont" needed to prompt your opponent to send his "stratoi" in the wrong direction. – Bill Hartston

    While both Steinitz and Tarrasch had set themselves up as "macheeides", putting into practice a perfect strategy, playing only the best possible moves on every occasion, Lasker's approach to the game was certainly more flexible. For Lasker understood better than anyone that the true nature of the struggle in chess was not an objective search for the truth, but a psychological battle against both oneself and the opponent, in conditions of extreme uncertainty. – Bill Hartston

    [Lasker] employed many of the techniques that have become common today. He violated general principles when he felt confident in doing so. He played "practical" moves. He focused on specifics, such as targets, rather than the theoretical. He didn't calculate what didn't need to be calculated. He realized the clock was the 33rd piece. He complicated before his position got bad. He took calculated risks. He sacrificed for purely positional compensation. He used tactics to advance positional goals. - Andrew Soltis

    It used to be said that Lasker, unlike his contemporaries, formed no school of thought. But we're all his students. - Andrew Soltis

    In life, as in chess, Lasker was a fighter. – Fred Reinfeld

    Lasker's inexhaustible store of genius provided us with many hours of pleasure. – Fred Reinfeld

    It is remarkable, and deserves special mention that the great masters, such as Pillsbury, Maroczy and Janowsky play against Lasker as though hypnotized. – George Marco

    Nobody had such a fine feeling as Lasker for activating pieces. Often his opponents (and annotators too) would still be wondering long afterwards where the game had actually been lost. Advantages seemed to disappear mysteriously when facing Lasker! – Richard Forster

    It is no easy matter to reply correctly to Lasker's bad moves. – William Pollock

    Lasker's style is like limpid clear water - with a dash of poison in it! – Source Unknown

    The older the player, the greater the odds his idol is Lasker! – Lev Alburt

    Ah, Dr. Lasker, I presume. – Unknown blind player after the first few moves of a game against Lasker

    Emanuel Lasker was undoubtedly one of the most interesting people I came to know in my later life. – Albert Einstein

    For me, this personality, notwithstanding his fundamentally optimistic attitude, had a tragic note. The enormous mental resilience, without which no chess player can exist, was so much taken up by chess that he could never free his mind of this game, even when he was occupied by philosophical and humanitarian questions. – Albert Einstein (about Lasker)

    In my view, Lasker was a pioneer of modern chess. When you look through Steinitz's games you understand they were played in the century before last whereas Lasker had a lot of games that modern chess players could have had. - Vladimir Kramnik

    Lasker was an impressive person. He managed to understand a lot in chess. I was looking through his games again some time ago and was astonished: his knowledge was incredibly extensive for his time! He was the first to understand the importance of psychological factors and started to pay attention to them. - Vladimir Kramnik

    In my opinion, when Lasker was stripping Steinitz of his title, he was head and shoulders above all the others. Since that time chess history has not seen such a yawning gap. Lasker had surpassed everyone until a new generation grew up and his opponents, namely Tarrasch, got stronger. - Vladimir Kramnik


    39 games, 1889-1936

  18. Endgame Themes
    R+P:
    Smyslov vs Reshevsky, 1948 Botvinnik vs Boleslavsky, 1941 Marshall vs Chigorin, 1905 Rubinstein vs Salwe, 1908 Alatortsev vs V Chekhover, 1937 To add:
    Gligoric vs Smyslov, 1947

    NvB:
    Andersson vs A Sokolov, 1987

    154 games, 1862-2017

  19. English, Botvinnik System
    30 games, 1955-2005

  20. English, Closed Variation
    25 games, 1967-2001

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