iking: In the first two weeks of April, after about five months from FIDE's formalization of your move to the United States Federation, you have played in the U.S. championship.
In the 9th round you get involved in an incident. Of course, I refer to your game against Varuzhan Akobian, during which your opponent has requested the arbiter intervention because you wrote something on a piece of paper under your scoresheet (simple words of self-incitement, if I remember well).
You had the game lost by refereeing.
All the fans appreciated the style in which you have "endured" the incident.
You have accepted the arbitration decision and the decree of the game lost, only trying to ask - with unsuccessful result - don’t lose the elo points (I personally would have left even this thing, but I can understand you since you were still in the running for one of the two places for the Candidates Tournament through the average elo rating.).
After this long introduction, the question is: how are you able to be always so moderate, despite your young age? [***]Thank you for your understanding. I know everyone has their own side and the only thing you can do is explain your side and hope for a good decision. The decision went against me but I accepted it. People all over the world are dying in wars and poverty and famine, etc. I don’t want to make another war over a game.
Are you sorry to haven't taken part in this edition of the Grand Chess Tour (apart from participation in the Saint Louis leg)? Can we have the pleasure and the honor of having directly from you your version of events?
Yes, I am sad not to be in the Grand Chess Tour this year.
In December 2014 I approached Stavanger organizers to ask if I could be invited to play in Norway (at that time I did not know they would be part of a compulsory three event tour) but they never responded. So I accepted several other offers.
Then in April 2015 the Grand Tour sent me an invitation to join but I already had several signed contracts with other events, specifically the National Czech Trophy matches against GM David Navara, which exactly coincided with the Stavanger dates and could not be moved.
The only reason I eventually was able to play in Sinquefield was that each country could choose a wild card and I was chosen. I am happy I went even if my score was not so good.
To conclude this interview, after the series of "tournament" questions I have a few simple final questions.
What are the things you enjoy most in life?
Being at home with my family and my pets. Watching movies. Reading the Bible. Biking and swimming. Canoeing. Walking in the forests near our house.
With which kind of persons you like to cultivate a friendship?
It is hard to have friends in the chess world because we are all competitors to each other. I like everyone and we are all polite to each other at tournaments but since our job is very demanding it is hard to do things socially. Also I am a bit shy and because I am a religious person I have conservative views. And I do not enjoy parties very much specially with people I don’t know. In that, I don’t think I am too different from most serious chess players. We just don’t have the amounts of time most young men do.
The gentle Lotis Key who oversaw our contact is perhaps the actress? How did you meet?
Yes, she used to be a movie star in the Philippines. We met at a private dinner. She is a very quiet person and does not socialize much so it is a miracle we even met. Another miracle was that I became close to the whole family and when I decided to go full time professional, they offered to let me stay in their home. They are kind and help me with all my needs.
Thank you, Wesley. It was nice to meet you!
Thank you for honoring me with this interview.
Good luck for the World Cup!
We would like to see you in the 2016 Candidates Tournament!
Me too, but that is a very big dream!!
[ * Qui c'è qualcosa (quel "sedotto") che ho rubacchiato a Roberto Messa!
(Link: http://soloscacchi.altervista.org/?...)
** Wesley ha naturalmente fatto bene a precisare che Seirawan è molto cortese con tutti e che non lo ha coccolato. La mia era ovviamente solo una battuta, sulla base del fatto che in quella circostanza Yasser, stuzzicato da Anish Giri, aveva durante una sua diretta web dichiarato di avere Wesley come "favorite", tutto qua. Ma, lo ripeto, Wesley (che non può sapere che Seirawan è, come ho più volte scritto nei miei articoli/post/commenti, una delle persone del mondo scacchistico che prediligo in assoluto) ha fatto bene a precisare.
*** Non è in discussione l'operato del notissimo arbitro Tony Rich; la domanda tende semplicemente a porre in rilievo l'autocontrollo di Wesley nonostante la forte pressione e soprattutto nonostante la sua giovane età. ]
Kibitzing
