Blitz Chess Quotes

As a twelve-year-old, Boris Spassky gained the nickname Little Scoundrel. At the Russian Junior Championship in Zelenogorsk near Leningrad, Moscow juniors proposed blitz matches to Boris. The loser would buy a bottle of lemonade. They conspired and all lost to him. After an hour, five bottles of lemonade stood in front of Boris. “Now drink!” They surrounded him, blocking his escape. They were bigger than him. “Drink it all! Come on, now!” Scared, Boris drank, but after the second bottle, he had had enough. They didn’t let up. After the third, he vomited. Only then did they leave him alone.

I wasn’t obsessed enough to bury myself in positions for hours on end. I always wanted the instant solution, the quick fix. Playing blitz, a form of throwaway chess, always appealed more than working at the game to log something that would last.