"He must make sure Magnus is out of his comfort zone, he needs to direct the positions. It needs to be a mess. He needs to get Magnus into a brawl."

“In one sense Vishy has everything to gain and nothing to lose. If he beats Magnus, people are going to say, 'my God, he really is one of the all-time greats!' and, if he loses, they will say, 'well, if only the ages had been reversed.”

“To become a world chess champion.”

“Age is part of it. For instance, I recognise that is going to do certain things because he's 22 and there are certain things I can do because I'm 43.”

“The fact is he outplayed me. He just proved to be stronger.”

“Magnus has many good qualities... he is very versatile and he can play a lot of positions at a very high level. He's also very flexible. And he has this amazing talent for grinding on, as you say. So that combination I was unable to deal with.”

“Since the 1990s technology has taken some of the sheen off the Russian trainers and their methods.”