3-time US Chess Champion Wesley So talks to Tania Sachdev after beating Arjun Erigaisi in Round 3 of the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Finals. Replay the games:
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#WesleySo #ChessChamps #ArjunErigaisi
Wesley you mentioned you're happy to win Your first game and now you won your First match feeling good yeah certainly First melt water matter match win of the Year I'm very pleased uh I mean Yeah I think the match turned out pretty Okay Um I think Arjun is a very strong player But maybe it's focusing on classical Chess it seems his play here in a rapid Seems to be a bit uncertain like it's Doubting himself But he's very young you know he's very Strong and he's got He's gonna improve pretty soon I'm sure Magnus had mentioned that Arjun still Struggled a little bit with his openings The same feeling Yeah for sure I mean this match for sure He showed it Um Oh no his classical opening seems to be Pretty fine because I remember we were Preparing for him in the Olympia and he Crushed linear Dominguez with this Afternoon so and I was very pleased at That point because 11 was feeling sick And if he played now the black against Arjun and that's the last thing I want For the last round the Olympian Um
I think it's opening for finding Classical maybe just here he's not Really preparing Too deeply conserving his energy for the Games Maybe uh but uh It's pretty amazing then that he's Reached so far considering that his Openings could use a little Improvement I it's a good thing that uh It's a good fan of a very talented Player when they can reach that far Undoubtedly he's one of the biggest Islands uh currently I want to ask you Were you yes were you surprised Wesley With how quickly you got an edge out of The opening in the final game Opening oh border uh he's supposed to Play Knight D4 first instead Bishop B4 Check And that way if I play guitar Queen X5 Queen A2 so That's so funny how he played Bishop B4 Check first how he you just played it Without thinking I think He still couldn't move on from the loss In the second game and uh for the last Round he figured he just played quickly And try to get the big Edge on the clock Which he did but with the 10 second Increment uh it didn't really work Um I I saw this idea before night H4 in the
Youth Championship played by Ray Robson Uh I mean black and play Bishop E4 if he Wants I assume that's what Arjun was Hoping for like to get the structure Where white has to play F3 Um but uh yeah in a game I had such a Fetch a knife position uh yeah that Happened all the time We we saw you play flawlessly after Getting that out of the opening and We've seen this often in uh must win Situations if you're down by two points It really affects the quality of play And the decision when you know that you Have to just go all out yeah for sure Having to mean I mean there's pressure for Both sides uh happened to me in Toronto When I was leading against Hikaru was Very nervous for the last game The I guess You know yes it's not easy to play for a Win with the black pieces you have to Wait for your opponent to make a mistake And uh you know if you're worth you can Force the issue maybe Arjun should have Just played solidly with black and tried To win with the white pieces maybe That's a better option but these matches Are so short it's just whoever wins the First game as a super large Edge uh four Games uh In Toronto we played eight eight games
Then at least we have a second day to Come back uh but with four games you can Hardly avoid to make any mistakes that's Why I can't regret that winning game two Against Magnus because if I won that one Then I would practically have assured Myself with a blitz tie break maybe Um But I think the Strategy in this short matches is just To you know play it says you know draw Is fine if you go to the blitz cyborg That's fine too I think players are very Strong here and just try not to lose the First one Roughly after these two tough matches it Must be such a relief to win a match and Get back on track yeah certainly I'm Very happy Uh but at the same time Arjun also lost All his matches so far Which is unfortunate But it's not a sign that I'm back in the Tournament yet I have to beat someone Strong for sure tomorrow you're up Against Prague another very talented and Very strong Indian what do you what do You think about that matchup yeah at Least I can see him clearly I can look I Find game four when Magnus blundered Against me he was spouting himself so I Was more Curious on watching his Reaction when he played Queen G6 and Then anything else but it's nice to
You know play someone face to face uh I've always been impressed by this young Teenagers you know India has a lot I was Biggest enough a lot and uh Um you know they're very strong we can Never underestimate these guys All the best for tomorrow Wesley enjoy
