Chess Career Quotes

No, I've never had a job other than being a chess player.

On the whole, the life of a chess professional is not as easy as it appears at first sight. One needs to devote some ten hours a day to chess and to everything connected with it - physical and psycholgical preparation.

I may play some exhibition games so I don't want to quit the game of chess completely. I just decided and it's a firm decision not to play competitive chess anymore.

Nowadays, when you're not a grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it

My former coach, Simen Agdestein, used to be the best player in Norway.

Being one of the lucky ones I shouldn't be complaining, but for the chess world in general it would be good to find a structure in which chess professionals of lower levels would make a good living as well.

... far more people make a living as professional chess players today than ever before. Thanks partly to the availability of computer programs and online matches, there has been a mini-boom in chess interest among young people in many countries.

My dad sacrificed many things in life for me. He abandoned a very promising and lucrative career of an army officer just so that he could continue helping me with my chess and accompanying me to tournaments.

Well, I kind of split my life into two pieces. One was where my chess career lies. There, I kept my sanity, so to speak, and my logic. And the other was my religious life. I tried to apply what I learned in the church to my chess career too. But I still was studying chess. I wasn't just "trusting in God" to give me the moves.

I see myself more as an ambassador of the game. And I hope to bring chess to a higher level in the United States. Making bigger tournaments, more interesting events. Making it a respectable profession for young people to be able to pursue in the future.

Throughout my chess career I sought out new challenges, looking for things no one had done before.

When I started out playing chess as a kid I thought I should be world champion. As a kid you have no idea what that means and you only sort of picture it. It is hard to imagine that I waited all those years and it happened in a late stage of my career.

Right now I'm really happy with how things are going with my chess career, so I'm not thinking of doing anything else.

If you are serious about being a professional chess player, do know what your parents think and what their expectations are from you.

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.

If you want to become a World Champion you should avoid playing in Open tournaments.

A lot of people see a future where you could make a living as a chess player.

I don't consider myself a particularly young chess player. I have been playing in the best tournaments in the world since I was 16 years old. In other sports, if you have been playing for seven years, you are not a young prodigy any more. You're one of the pros.