If you want to get to the top, there's always the risk that it will isolate you from other people.

Chess only appeals to quite a small minority. It does not have the cachet of a mainstream popular sport.

I get more upset at losing at other things than chess. I always get upset when I lose at Monopoly.

I am not some sort of freak. I might be very good at chess but I'm just a normal person.

Right now I'm really happy with how things are going with my chess career, so I'm not thinking of doing anything else.

In my experience, when I went to school, and especially in after-school, and during breaks, a lot of people wanted to sit down and play chess up till a certain age when it was not supposed to be cool anymore and people wanted to do other things.

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