I honestly don't read that much. Obviously I read chess books - in terms of favorites, Kasparov's 'My Great Predecessors' is pretty good.

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.

Contrary to many young Colleagues, I do believe that it makes sense to study the Classics.

I can’t count the times I have lagged seemingly hopelessly far behind, and nobody except myself thinks I can win. But I have pulled myself in from desperate [situations]. When you are behind there are two strategies - counter-attack or all men to the defences. I’m good at finding the right balance between those.

I spend hours playing chess because I find it so much fun. The day it stops being fun is the day I give up.

All I expect are wins and to get pleasure from the game. And if someone thinks something about me, if someone's dissatisfied with something... that's not my headache. I hope someday I'll become World Champion - and I'll make all these people happy. But even if for some reason that doesn't happen it won't stop me getting pleasure from chess. I'm sure of that.

You have to choose the move that feels right sometimes; that's what intuition is.