All I want to do, ever, is play chess. — Bobby Fischer

I have nothing to do with politics. I came here [Yugoslavia] to play chess and nothing else. — Bobby Fischer

Chess is life. — Bobby Fischer

I consider myself to be a genius who happens to play chess. — Bobby Fischer

You know I’m finished with the old chess because it’s all just a lot of book and memorization you know. — Bobby Fischer

Blitz chess kills your ideas. — Bobby Fischer

It’s little quirks like this that could make life difficult for a chess machine. — Bobby Fischer

For the first lesson, I want you to play over every column of Modern Chess Openings, including the footnotes. And for the next lesson, I want you to do it again. — Bobby Fischer

Chess is a matter of delicate judgement, knowing when to punch and how to duck. — Bobby Fischer

I felt that chess… is a science in the form of a game… I consider myself a scientist. I wanted to be treated like a scientist. — Bobby Fischer

There’s no luck involved in chess. You just have to work at it. — Bobby Fischer

Americans really don’t know much about chess. But I think when I beat Spassky, that Americans will take a greater interest in chess. Americans like winners. — Bobby Fischer

Well, you know, in America everybody is interested in making the dollar fast. In Yugoslavia no matter how much you hustle you’re not going to get rich, so you might as well play chess. — Bobby Fischer

Chess and me, it’s hard to take them apart. It’s like my alter ego. — Bobby Fischer

The old chess is too limited. Imagine playing cards, black jack for example, and every time the dealer has the same starting hand you have the same starting hand. What’s the point? — Bobby Fischer

Our mind is all we’ve got. Not that it won’t lead us astray sometimes, but we still have to analyze things out within ourselves. — Bobby Fischer

I would rather be free in my mind, and be locked up in a prison cell, than to be a coward and not be able to say what I want. — Bobby Fischer

Chess is war over the board. The object is to crush the opponent’s mind. — Bobby Fischer

Your body has to be in top condition. Your Chess deteriorates as your body does. You can’t separate body from mind — Bobby Fischer

I don’t listen to weakies. — Bobby Fischer

My opponents make good moves too. Sometimes I don’t take these things into consideration — Bobby Fischer

All that matters on the Chessboard is good moves. — Bobby Fischer

My sister bought me a set at a candy store and taught me the moves. — Bobby Fischer

I could give any woman in the world a piece and a move; to Gaprindashvili even, a knight. — Bobby Fischer

I studied that first Karpov–Kasparov match for a year and a half before I cracked it, what they were doing, and discovered that it was all prearranged move–by–move. There’s no doubt of it in my mind. — Bobby Fischer

You have to have the fighting spirit. You have to force moves and take chances — Bobby Fischer

I like to make them squirm. — Bobby Fischer

I have never opened with the QP–on principle. — Bobby Fischer

To get squares you have to give up squares. — Bobby Fischer

I give 98 percent of my mental energy to chess. Others give only 2 percent. — Bobby Fischer

I wanted to become world champion, and in this respect school couldn’t give me anything… It is better to be one of the strongest chess players in the world, than to be one of many thousands with a diploma. — Bobby Fischer

That’s what Chess is all about. One day you give your opponent a lesson, the next day he gives you one — Bobby Fischer

Patzer sees a check, gives a check. — Bobby Fischer

Concentrate on material gains. Whatever your opponent gives you take, unless you see a good reason not to. — Bobby Fischer

There isn’t a woman player in the world I can’t give knights–odds to and still beat. — Bobby Fischer

When I win, I’ll put my title on the line every year, maybe even twice. I’ll give players a chance to beat me. — Bobby Fischer

Let’s play. I’m willing to play anywhere. — Bobby Fischer

I hope the Icelandic government grants me political asylum. — Bobby Fischer

I was never invited to the White House. — Bobby Fischer

I was never invited to the White House. They invited that Olympic Russian gymnast–that little Communist, Olga Korbut. — Bobby Fischer

The white people should go back to Europe, and the country should be returned to the American Indians. This is the future I would like to see for the so–called United States. — Bobby Fischer

As Olafsson showed me, White can win… It’s hard to believe. I stayed up all night analysing, finally convicing myself, and, incidentally, learning a lot about Rook and Pawn endings in the process. — Bobby Fischer

Nobody has single–handedly done more for the U.S. than me. — Bobby Fischer

If you have seen one Alekhine game you’ve seen them all. — Bobby Fischer

If you don’t win, it’s not a great tragedy–the worst that happens is that you lose a game. — Bobby Fischer

I think it’s almost definite that the game is a draw theoretically. — Bobby Fischer

I don’t care! I don’t have to show anybody my games just because they’re a big shot! — Bobby Fischer

Every chess game is like taking a five–hour final exam. — Bobby Fischer

There was open collusion between the Russian players. They agreed ahead of time to draw the games they played against each other. Every time they drew they gave each other half a point. — Bobby Fischer

Yeah, there are too many Jews in chess. They seem to have taken away the class of the game. They don’t seem to dress so nicely, you know. That’s what I don’t like. — Bobby Fischer

I am not today, nor have I ever been a Jew, and as a matter of fact, I am uncircumcised. — Bobby Fischer

America is totally under control of the Jews, you know. I mean, look what they’re doing in Yugoslavia… — Bobby Fischer

They’re lying bastards. Jews were always lying bastards throughout their history. They’re a filthy, dirty, disgusting, vile, criminal people. — Bobby Fischer

I was going to do a book about the first prearranged Karpov–Kasparov match, ’84–’85. But the God–damn Jews have stolen my entire file on that. — Bobby Fischer