I don't think there is a thing like overconfidence in chess. It's always better to be too confident than too reluctant.

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

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.

Self-confidence is very important. If you don't think you can win, you will take cowardly decisions in the crucial moments, out of sheer respect for your opponent. You see the opportunity but also greater limitations than you should. I have always believed in what I do on the chessboard, even when I had no objective reason to. It is better to overestimate your prospects than underestimate them.

You can feel the same thing in football or soccer - that for the best teams in Spain and England, for instance, the public... they're not really going to cheer at all when they play against bad teams unless they do something spectacular. Even if they're winning by a few goals they'll probably just say, "nah." That's normal and they're not excited about it.

I don't think there is a thing like overconfidence in chess. It's always better to be too confident than too reluctant.

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.