I enjoy hiking and skiing, like most Norwegians. In winter, there will be snow for months on end. In the summer, there are the long evenings to enjoy.

I really enjoy the experience of playing humans. The psychological game is so much more important.

I started by just sitting by the chessboard exploring things. I didn't even have books at first, and I just played by myself. I learnt a lot from that, and I feel that it is a big reason why I now have a good intuitive understanding of chess.

I think with chess as with everything, marketing is the main issue.

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.

For me right now I think being the world number one is a bigger deal than being the world champion because I think it shows better who plays the best chess. That sounds self-serving but I think it's also right.

Of course, analysis can sometimes give more accurate results than intuition but usually it’s just a lot of work. I normally do what my intuition tells me to do. Most of the time spent thinking is just to double-check.