Quotes

I have great energy and I have great tasks ahead of me. I want to serve chess through games, books that are works of art. I would like to bring the game closer to many people all over the world.

It was nothing to do about science. It was one zeal to beat Garry Kasparov. And when a big corporation with unlimited resources would like to do so, there are many ways to achieve the result.

Chess history is best viewed through the game's evolution: the Romantic Era of the 19th Century, the Hypermodernism of the early 20th, the post-World War II dominance of the Soviet School. They hail from all over the world, as illustrated by current world champion Viswanathan Anand of India and young Norwegian Magnus Carlsen. I had the opportunity to train Carlsen in 2009, and his intuitive style conserves the mystique of chess at a time when every CP-enhanced fan thinks the game is easy. Carlsen is as charismatic and independent as he is talented. If he can rekindle the world's fascination with the royal game, we will soon be living in the Carlsen Era.

One of the countless and endless debates around [Bobby] Fischer were whether his behavioral excesses were the product of an unbalanced yet sincere soul, or an extension of his all-consuming drive to conquer. He had his strong principles, but the predator in him was well aware of the effect his antics had on his opponents.

Many strong chess players go on to successful careers as currency and stock traders, so I suppose there is considerable crossover in the pattern-matching and intuitive calculation skills required. But the aptitude for playing chess is nothing more than that. My argument has always been that what you learn from using the skills you have - analyzing your strengths and weaknesses - is far more important.

The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.

[advice for critics of Donald Trump, 2017] Build a case, follow the money, track the conflicts of interest, the Russian connections, the family deals, etc. Screaming, "impeach!" every time Trump tweets something that's probably illegal or unconstitutional isn't a strategy.

Chess was terrible preparation for politics in Putin's Russia because in chess we have fixed rules and uncertain results, but in Putin's elections it's exactly the opposite.

[2024, on the Russian courts issuing an arrest warrant for him] In absentia is definitely the best way I've ever been arrested.