Do as little as necessary to appear to be doing something without actually committing to a cause or course of action.

The best chess masters of every epoch have been closely linked with the values of the society in which they lived and worked. All the changes of a cultural, political, and psychological background are reflected in the style and ideas of their play.

The handover of power to [Dmitry] Medvedev was rather painless, everybody thought that the waves would calm automatically. By now, it's quite clear that [Vladimir] Putin doesn't want to relinquish the levers of power.

In chess the rules are fixed and the outcome is unpredictable, whereas in Putin's Russia the rules are unpredictable and the outcome is fixed.

There are many ways of showing your protest and discontent without the actions of Kremlin.

The biggest problem I see among people who want to excel in chess – and in business and in life in general – is not trusting their instincts enough.

I think Russian people are learning that democracy is not an alien thing; it's not a western invention.