 Wesley So finished with 7 out of 10 at the Gibraltar International Chess Festival. Wesley joins us in our studio and talks about the challenges of playing in strong open events. Wesley, good to finish on a high. Yeah, definitely. We have a very interesting game today, very interesting fight. I mean, I didn't get much out of the opening and he wanted to repeat moves, but the position was probably equal for the most part. But I kept playing and, yeah, managed to finally make it after missing Goodwing Chance as my last two games with Black Pieces. Right now it was important for you to go all out today for a good standing. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I've been trying to win the last three games. By the same time, I kept in mind that it's just as easy to over push. I get overrated there and lose with the White Pieces like what happened with me against Nils Crandelius. So, of course, I wanted to win, but I can't say the King's Gambit yet. Right. Now, you finished on 7 out of 10. How do you evaluate your performance in this event? Well, it was a difficult tournament for me. It's very hard to win games. But basically, I think the turning point was my loss against Nils Crandelius because if I didn't lose that game, then I could definitely fight for the first place. But that changed my tournaments a bit. And then I'm playing lower-rated people like these Indians, Lalit Babu, who defend very well. So, winning opens is far from easy. But it's my first time here in Gibraltar. I really wanted to come and I really wanted to play. And so far, my mother and I, we like the tournament very much. If you know, in Minnesota, we're having a very cold weather right now with, once in a lifetime, ice vortex. A polar vortex. So right now in Minnesota, it's like 100 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. So it's like negative 50 there right now. So I'm very pleased to have managed to escape that. So that's why I always need a tournament in January to escape the weather. Good to have the sun indeed. Now, you mentioned something interesting about the challenge of playing in open events and playing all these players who you don't really, really know well and what they play. Tell us a bit more about that. Well, the main problem is that if you win one game and you, if I win one game and I draw one game, I'm still losing rating points. So it's very difficult. I mean, before here, I played in Isle of Man. I lost 15 points because I made like seven draws in a row. So it's very difficult. And then, you know, these low rated guys, they're fighting for their lives. They're playing some of their best chess and they're quite pleased with a draw and if you ever push, they'll go and beat you. So it's a different mindset. But I think the secret is to not lose a game. It's basically impossible to fight for first place if I lose one in a single game. And, yeah, I guess it's interesting. I mean, Magnus likes, doesn't mind playing in open tournaments, even though he's got incredibly high rating. But I noticed that really top players have a very difficult time not losing rating points. I mean, two years ago Fabian lost 10. And, you know, these low rated players, they sometimes crack, sometimes they don't. But even if they crack, you only really get one or two chances to beat them. And yesterday I missed that. So the push with white and hold with black strategy doesn't really work in open events? It depends how a player starts. Because if you start like David and win four games, the first four games, then definitely by all means, draw with black and push with white. But it's just sometimes it's very important to have a very good start. But if you do your first two games, then you have to basically try to push with both colors. Now, this was your debut at the Gibraltar Masters. Tell us the experience off-board. Well, there's nothing really I can complain about. The playing hall is in the same place as our hotel. And also we get buffet dinners for breakfast and dinner. So everything settled. We have great weather here. We have really strong players. So it's a very good practice for everybody. Even for top players, they don't care about your rating. And it's a very different tournament from what I can say. Because what I can say is like two times the length and also lots of top players. Will we be seeing more of you in open events? Hopefully not. I never gained rating in open events. I mean, not that I care particularly much about my rating, but this year I'm playing a lot of rapid and blitz tournaments. Next month we have the Champions Showdown in St. Louis. And I think it's the chess 960, the Fisher Random. And Grand Chester has three or four rapid blitz tournaments. So I don't really get much chances to play in classical tournaments. But I think there are two opens I really want to play in the world. So Isle of Man and also here in Gibraltar. That's basically it, thankfully. Well, we look forward to having you back with us next year. Enjoy your evening and the gala dinner. Thank you, Tanya. Thank you.