My father, a fine chess player himself, has been a massive influence throughout my life.

My father, a fine chess player himself, has been a massive influence throughout my life.

It's nice to be financially secure. Apart from that, I really don't care too much about money.

It's easy for me to get along with chess players. Even though we are all very different, we have chess in common.

There wasn't any particular player I modeled my game after. I tried to learn from everyone and create my own style. I studied past players... Truth be told I never had a favorite player. It's just not my nature to go around idolizing people. I just go try to learn.

When you have fun then you're more interested in learning.

I was lucky enough to attend schools where they were understanding about when I needed to go abroad to play chess. Of course, socially it is important to go to school and interact with people your own age.