Chess is like a language, the top players are very fluent at it. Talent can be developed scientifically but you have to find first what you are good at.

Carlsen will be ridiculously difficult to play against. (on the 2013 World Championship match)

There are two aspects to being competitive; one is to do with sports, and the other is about technical skills. Being able to recollect the moves and apply them when necessary is a critical aspect.

In the knockout tournaments, it's futile to prepare for a grand finale. You may have worked out many strategies for the final. But you may lose in the first round itself.

In any match, there are few critical moments where there's no second best decision. The rest of the moves are intuitive.

You need to motivate yourself, no matter what-definitely when things are bad, but also when things are good. Or else, you risk becoming complacent.

I think an important lesson from the game is that once you have made a move, you cannot take it back. You really have to measure your decisions. You think a lot. You evaluate your choices very carefully. There's never any guarantee about what's going to follow once you have made a decision.