There are certainly loads of players that I admire; I try to learn from all of the great masters both of the past and contemporary as well.

Once you're a chess player, you spend a lot of time thinking about the game and you can't get it completely out of your head.

Without the element of enjoyment, it is not worth trying to excel at anything.

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

I don't really watch too many movies. I don't have the patience usually to watch one, one and a half or two hours in a row.

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

One of the things that first attracted me to chess is that it brings you into contact with intelligent, civilized people - men of the stature of Garry Kasparov, the former world champion, who was my part-time coach.