The main ingredient of stardom, is the rest of the team.

Chess is a game by its form, an art by its content and a science by the difficulty of gaining mastery in it. Chess can convey as much happiness as a good book or work of music can. However, it is necessary to learn to play well and only afterwards will one experience real delight.

The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special.

Later, I began to succeed in decisive games, perhaps because I realised a very simple truth: not only was I worried, but so was my opponent.

Life just happens so quickly and now I have a greater appreciation for life after everything that's happened in the last five years.

Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need pruning by study.