Some people think that if their opponent plays a beautiful game, it's OK to lose. I don't. You have to be merciless.
Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.
You need to have that edge, you need to have that confidence, you need to have that absolute belief that you're - you're the best and you'll win every time.
When you have fun then you're more interested in learning.
Of course, analysis can sometimes give more accurate results than intuition but usually it’s just a lot of work. I normally do what my intuition tells me to do. Most of the time spent thinking is just to double-check.
You have to choose the move that feels right sometimes; that's what intuition is.
Self-confidence is very important. If you don't think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucial moments, out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. I have always believed in what I do on the chessboard, even when I had no objective reason to. It is better to overestimate your prospects than underestimate them.
If you want to get to the top, there's always the risk that it will isolate you from other people.
What I admired most about him [Bobby Fischer] was his ability to make what was in fact so difficult look easy to us. I try to emulate him.
I don't think there is a thing like overconfidence in chess. It's always better to be too confident than too reluctant.
I started by just sitting by the chessboard exploring things. I didn't even have books at first, and I just played by myself. I learnt a lot from that, and I feel that it is a big reason why I now have a good intuitive understanding of chess.
I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up.
People ask what my goal is. I don't have a goal.
Not winning a tournament is not an option for me, unless it's no longer theoretically possible - then of course winning becomes impossible. But up to that point, not winning is just not an option.
Once you're a chess player, you spend a lot of time thinking about the game and you can't get it completely out of your head.
Kids love games and chess is a game where you have to sit down and concentrate and it just helps in every way.
I am trying to beat the guy sitting across from me and trying to choose the moves that are most unpleasant for him and his style.
I'm more interested in the games than the people.
One of the things that first attracted me to chess is that it brings you into contact with intelligent, civilized people - men of the stature of Garry Kasparov, the former world champion, who was my part-time coach.
Contrary to many young Colleagues, I do believe that it makes sense to study the Classics.
It's easy for me to get along with chess players. Even though we are all very different, we have chess in common.
I was lucky enough to attend schools where they were understanding about when I needed to go abroad to play chess. Of course, socially it is important to go to school and interact with people your own age.
For me, the most important thing is to continue to play well and to be a positive figure and hopefully a role model for kids as well.
All I expect are wins and to get pleasure from the game. And if someone thinks something about me, if someone's dissatisfied with something... that's not my headache. I hope someday I'll become World Champion - and I'll make all these people happy. But even if for some reason that doesn't happen it won't stop me getting pleasure from chess. I'm sure of that.
Unfortunately I'm still not a fashion expert.
