I have never considered myself a prodigy. Others have used that term, but I never bought in to it.

I have never considered myself a prodigy. Others have used that term, but I never bought in to it.

Of course the sad truth is that if we are not present to the moment, our true love could come and go and we wouldn't even notice.

My coach and my parents both had this relationship to what I was doing, which was allowing me to express myself with chess. And so I could love it. I had a passion for it. I was expressing myself through chess, and I was learning about myself through chess.

In chess you might find a good move. Then you might find a better move. But take your time. Find the best move.

It is rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound mastery of what may well be a basic skill set.

The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process, and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity. Usually, growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety.