Bent Larsen Quotes

“Chess is a beautiful mistress.”

— Bent Larsen

“A gambit never becomes sheer routine as long as you fear you may lose the king and pawn ending!”

— Bent Larsen

“A chess player never has a heart attack in a good position.”

— Bent Larsen

“Had I not played the Sicilian with Black I could have saved myself the trouble of studying for more than 20 years all the more popular lines of this opening, which comprise probably more than 25 percent of all published opening theory!”

— Bent Larsen

“I often play a move I know how to refute.”

— Bent Larsen

“I don't care very much for miniatures. I don't try to beat my opponents quickly because if they are strong, I think I should respect them. It is too risky to play sharply to beat them in 20 moves.”

— Bent Larsen

“A draw may be the beautiful and logical result of fine attacks and parries; and the public ought to appreciate such games, in contrast, of course, to the fear-and-laziness draws.”

— Bent Larsen

“Nimzovitch became then for me more or less the author of the only book which could help me get away from these Euwe books, which, I admit, are very good for the ordinary club player. But once you've reached a certain strength you get the impression that everything that Euwe writes is a lie.”

— Bent Larsen

Most of all I like "bad" lines, that is those considered bad, in my opinion unjustly, by theory. The reason for the last quotation marks is that most so-called theory is only a collection of examples from master practice.

— Bent Larsen

For me, chess is at the same time a game, a sport, a science and an art. And perhaps even more than that,. There is someting hard to explain to those who do not know the game well. One must first learn to play it correctly in order to savor its richness.

— Bent Larsen

“Play the open variation of the Ruy is my advice to all ordinary club players, and I recently even wrote a book about it, seen from Black's point of view. Why does everybody try to copy the grandmasters' strange positional maneuvers in the 5 ... B-K2 variation, instead of fighting for the in intiative?”

— Bent Larsen

“One charming characteristic of many flank attacks I could mention is that they do not very often lead to simplification: if the attack is parried, there usually are still opportunities left for initiating action in another sector.”

— Bent Larsen

“Among top grandmasters the Dutch is a rare defense, which is good reason to play it! It has not been studied very deeply by many opponents, and theory, based on a small number of 'reliable' games, must be rather unreliable.”

— Bent Larsen

The books say that it is not so serious to lose time in a closed position; I am lucky, since these comments have not harmed me too much.

— Bent Larsen

“Chess is my profession. I am my own boss; I am free. I like literature and music, classical especially. I am in fact quite normal; I have a Bohemian profession without being myself a Bohemian. I am neither a conformist nor a great revolutionary.”

— Bent Larsen

“In my opinion the Open variation is absolutely correct - and more interesting than the Closed.”

— Bent Larsen

“The stomach is an essential part of the Chess master”

— Bent Larsen

“All chess masters have on occasion played a magnificent game and then lost it by a stupid mistake, perhaps in time pressure and it may perhaps seem unjust that all their beautiful ideas get no other recognition than a zero on the tournament table.”

— Bent Larsen

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

— Bent Larsen