The truth is that my chess development was nothing out of the ordinary, and it proceeded probably at a pace no faster than others.

An amusing fact: as far as I can recall, when playing the Ruy Lopez I have not yet once in my life had to face the Marshall Attack!

No, I do not want to sacrifice four days for two games. My time is too valuable to do that

Chess is a very tough game, and psychologically a tough game. And of course chess needs a lot of qualities, human qualities. And so you must have very strong nervous system and then you must be well prepared, you must be able to work a lot.

I still remember Botvinnik's reaction to each of my games, right from the opening moves. At first he would express amazement, then annoyance, and, finally irritation.

By all means examine the games of the great chess players, but don't swallow them whole. Their games are valuable not for their separate moves, but for their vision of chess, their way of thinking.

The ideal in chess can only be a collective image, but in my opinion it is Capablanca who most closely approaches this.