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Dariusz Radziejewski Quotes

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Famous Dariusz Radziejewski Quotes

“Someone must have greatly intimidated Stalin for Zhdanov to insist like this. Bondarevsky? He was too insignificant. When the Soviet team swept the American team off the chessboards, Stalin was pleased. He sent a telegram saying, “Great job!” Why did he start doubting? In the depths of his soul, Botvinnik did not believe that it was only fear of defeat and the desire to secure victory. They wanted to prove something to Botvinnik. A terrible thought crossed his mind. They wanted him to understand that his skills were not as important as he imagined because even if he played worse and didn’t defeat Reshevsky, they had the power to make him the champion anyway. The goal was to diminish Botvinnik and show him that he was not a significant figure but just an ordinary pawn in a game that surpassed him.”

ChessChess ChampionBotvinnik
Book:Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity
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“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.”

ChessChess ChampionBoris Spassky
Book:Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity
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“Neményi was fifty-six years old. He had aged and become eccentric. He washed his hands obsessively and carried soap in his pocket. Regina noticed that he avoided touching door handles. When he couldn’t open a door with his elbow, he would grab the handle through the sleeve of his sweater or wipe it with a disinfectant-soaked tissue. He did the same with the telephone receiver. “Microbes. You’re a nurse, you should know that there are more bacteria in those places than on a toilet seat.” Then suddenly, everything ended. Paul stopped coming. Bobby was nine years old. “Why doesn’t Paul visit us anymore?” he asked. “Paul is dead,” his mother replied. “He was your father. Didn’t you know?”

ChessChess ChampionBobby Fischer
Book:Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity
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“During the third consultation, Dr. Kline talked about the research of Dr. Hans Asperger from a clinic in Vienna, which was not well-known yet but intriguing. Some personality traits of Bobby aligned with certain symptoms described in his papers, and the fact that the child’s father was almost fifty when he was conceived... “Are you suggesting that Bobby is mentally retarded?” “Oh, no. He’s a normally developed boy intellectually. Quite sharp in some aspects. He has a good visual memory and spatial perception. It’s the emotional intelligence where we encounter a problem.”

ChessChess ChampionBobby Fischer
Book:Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity
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“Let’s assume the match doesn’t happen. Fischer is disqualified. Who will be the challenger in his place?” Krogius understood. “Petrosian. The second finalist of the Candidates Matches.” “Do you think I want to play with Petrosian for the third time, in Moscow, for a few thousand rubles? I’m not just talking about the prize. Who will care about this match?” Spassky cared not just about the money. He wanted to go down in history. Krogius believed it was a risky game. “Fischer will realize how much you want this match. Euwe isn’t dumb either. They will think they can get away with a lot with you.” “And Fischer doesn’t want that money? Not to mention the title of world champion. And Edmondson? Do you think he doesn’t dream of Fischer winning the crown for America? And Max Euwe? This match is a gold mine for FIDE and personally for him. They will push the boundaries, but they won’t cross them because everyone will lose in that case.” “Only our authorities would be pleased if Fischer didn’t play the match.” Finally, Krogius understood what the game was about.”

FischerChess ChampionSpassky
Book:Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity
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“Something’s off with Bobby,” Edmondson said. Benson didn’t think that Edmondson was referring to Fischer’s legendary eccentricities. Edmondson had once mentioned with a laugh that Bobby was afraid of Soviet agents tracking him, but this probably wasn’t it either. “In what sense?” Something was off with the majority of people Benson dealt with, so he needed further clarification. “Psychiatric.” Evidently, Edmondson was serious, but for now, Benson approached it with skepticism. “Is it a problem? Since he’s winning grandmaster tournaments.” “Imagine he wins the Candidates Matches, and then something happens to him before the World Championship match. Or during it. There is big money and the future of chess in America at stake. Not to mention settling scores with the Soviets. You know that the chess championship is the apple of their eye. We’re going to pluck it out from them. I just need to know where I stand and what to expect. After all, I can’t send Bobby for an examination.”

Chess ChampionBobby Fischer
Book:Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity
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“When Petrosian was preparing for the match against Fischer, especially when analyzing Fischer’s games against Taimanov and Larsen, he came to the conclusion that besides his chess strength, there must be something else that helps Fischer win. Something significant yet elusive, as it remained unnoticed. To perceive it, one needed to look at Fischer’s moves beyond the chessboard. Petrosian did that and managed to see through the American’s game. Fischer employed a perfidious psychological weapon. By imposing special conditions and demanding privileges, he put his opponent in a worse situation.”

FischerChess ChampionPetrosian
Book:Game of Chess Thrones: A Tale of Great Masters and the Greatest Game Invented by Humanity
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“It seemed that his spontaneous roaming was a well-planned learning expedition. I suspect that his rebellion and degeneracy were also premeditated. Apparently, they were a kind of intellectual rule, akin to a monastic rule, designed to lead to enlightenment. Unfortunately, his study curriculum also involved a significant degree of self-destruction as the fastest path to self-discovery.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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“On that September Sunday, when the excited Paul went to meet Rimbaud, the worst began. Young Rimbaud, that great talent, that poetic genius whom all of Paris supposedly awaited, must have missed Paul at the train station because he arrived alone. To our astonishment, maman and I did not see any genius but rather an uncouth and unkempt boy in shabby, dirty attire, who spoke strangely with an Ardennes accent, if he spoke at all, for he hardly said anything. He had no luggage, which raised suspicion with my mother. A person without luggage was not to be trusted. But he had beautiful blue eyes that looked shy, or so I thought at the time. Meanwhile, those innocent eyes gazed at the world cunningly and maliciously, as it would soon become apparent. Behind that childlike, pretty face of a doll hid a corrupted monster that shattered our family happiness.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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“Arthur was six years old when I left the family. Due to my infrequent stays at home, we did not form a strong bond. Occasionally, I longed for the lost fatherhood. Did he long for his lost childhood? I did not have a chance to tell him about the sea in which the stars float, about the red, fiery sunrises and sunsets, about the storm that tosses a ship like a nutshell, about flocks of screeching seagulls, schools of fish, and picturesque islets. I wanted to spin a tale about life in the desert, about the scorching sand burning the feet and the hot air shimmering with strange mirages. About wild, freedom-loving people, bizarre customs, and exotic beasts. I remember him squatting over a puddle at dusk.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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“Not long after, a response came. Verlaine invited Rimbaud to Paris. He sent along a one-way ticket. Paris was waiting for the young genius. It was about time. Arthur’s mother had had enough of him, and her ultimatum was running out: either he would find a job or he would be out on the street. He was almost seventeen and was neither in job nor in education, even though peace had come, and the school had reopened its doors.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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“Paul went to pick him up at the train station, but they must have failed to meet because Rimbaud came on his own, on foot. I expected him to be similar to my beloved romantic poets. Beautiful and childishly pure like Alfred de Musset. Or divinely handsome like Lamartine, with the appearance of a Greek god. Or manly and strikingly comely like Chateaubriand, gazing at the sea as the breeze blows his long curls of hair. As a young girl, I was in love with the poetry of our bards and their portraits. Meanwhile, here in front of our well-kept house, I saw a sloppy rascal in tattered clothes, with disheveled hair, a sweaty face, and no luggage! I was itching to ask: and where is your Sunday garb? A change of underwear? Toothbrush, clothes brush, shoe brush, handkerchief, comb? Well, call me overly idealistic, but I genuinely believed that a normal person couldn’t do without these things.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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“Because even though the portrait itself is interesting, I don’t look very favorable in it. I resemble Jesus Christ after twenty years of drinking absinthe. I have serious, sadly drooping eyes and the pale, emaciated face of a consumptive. Pastel colors have been set free, fluttering like butterflies. At first glance, they seem to have no fixed place on the canvas, only the gaze of the observer can pin them down. They are soft and resonate chromatically.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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“The conclusions of the medical examination of the accused Verlaine, conducted by doctors Semal and Vlemincks, the court also considered an aggravating circumstance. The medical report states that Verlaine’s penis is short and thin, and the glans is small and tapers toward the tip, which would indicate active pederasty. The rectum can be easily dilated by slightly parting the buttocks to a depth of about three centimeters. In this way, the enlarged infundibulum is exposed, resembling a truncated cone with a concave top. Although the sphincter folds contract almost normally, passive pederasty is also highly probable.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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“Living among the wild blacks, for whom killing a man is like spitting, and killing a white man elevates the status of a warrior, was a balm to me, soothing the unbearable pain of an existence based on convention, the Ten Commandments, and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. In Africa, I took a few lives by my own hand, but it was either in self-defense or to protect valuable cargo I was transporting. I don’t count the slaves traveling with the caravan because they always dropped like flies and were worth less than camels.”

French PoetryArthur Rimbaud
Book:Adieu, Rimbaud!
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