But the thing that was great about Capablanca was that he really spoke his mind, he said what he believed was true, he said what he felt. He [Capablanca] wanted to change the rules [of chess] already, back in the twenties, because he said chess was getting played out. He was right. Now chess is completely dead. It is all just memorisation and prearrangement. It's a terrible game now. Very uncreative.

Your body has to be in top condition. Your Chess deteriorates as your body does. You can't separate body from mind

Now my only income is a few royalty cheques from my books.

Nothing eases suffering like human touch.

Capablanca was among the greatest of chess players, but not because of his endgame. His trick was to keep his openings simple, and then play with such brilliance in the middlegame that the game was decided - even though his ooponent didn't always know it - before they arrived at the ending.

Chess demands total concentration

Genius. It's a word. What does it really mean? If I win I'm a genius. If I don't, I'm not.