Wesley So: I felt like playing 1…h5 or 1…a5 against Carlsen (VIDEO)

Wesley So today won the Norway Chess Blitz tournament in Stavanger showing he is fronting the classical tournament in a good shape and mood.

So had a slow start losing to Wang Hao in the first round with the next two games finishing in a draw and explained that the opening didn’t go well against Wang: “The first game didn’t go so well. I played the new opening against Wang Hao and I wasn’t sure how he would do. He is semi-retired in a way, as he hasn’t played chess in a long time, but he played very concretely in that game“. Wesley So then stroke back winning five consecutive games, altogether with the one against Magnus Carlsen. Replay the game here

Reigning World Chess Champion chose to play 1.a4 against Wesley, who said in the interview after the tournament that he thought about answering with 1…h5 or 1…a5: “I felt like playing 1…h5 or 1…a5 but I’ve done that before and it didn’t work. Big shout out to Magnus for having the courage to play 1.a4. I think he played before against me 1.f3, 2.Kf2 in a blitz game and he beat me, so even though I was tempted to play something like 1…h5 I had to prevent myself and I just played normal chess“. Replay the game here
Read more: Carlsen goes with 1.h4 at Chessable Masters / Interview with Wesley So: “Everyone except Magnus has a lot of weaknesses” (VIDEO)

Wesley added the game against Magnus was the most important game of the day, and explained why he chose starting number one in the classical tournament: “My mother told me if I do well (in blitz) I should pick white against Magnus. Not that it matters but it’s good to have White against the strongest player in the world“. See the complete interview below.
Norway Chess 2022 all information / Norway Chess Blitz – Replay the games / Norway Chess 2022 – Final participants list with replacement for Rapport