A Wild Game vs MVL From Meltwater Finals

Who knew choosing which tournament to play is way more difficult than actually playing!
October is looking like another normal month for me – online activities and streaming but it was supposed to be completely different as I was planning to play Riga and fight for a ticket to the Candidates, and therefore I chose not play in the US championship.

All arrangements were made. I was preparing and working seriously on my chess, had booked flights and my Airbnb, and then... It turns out Latvia is in the midst of one of the world worst COVID outbreaks with a hard lockdown for a month which started few days before the tournament. FIDE and the Latvian officials decided to do what ever it takes for this tournament. However, I and a dozen other top players decided that some things just do not feel right! Entering in a country with hard lockdown and very very high daily COVID rate seems unsafe and wrong. As such, my plans went in the garbage even before the tournament!

Speaking about tournaments – as it seems a very narrow field and a minimum 6.5/11 shared by 3 players allowed Wesley So to win his second title in a row. In 2019 7.5 points was only good for sharing places 2-3! I had previously won that tournament with 8/11. While it's clearly impossible to know what would could have happened had I played this year. Maybe choosing the tournament is the hardest part!

Let me share with you one of the most fun games I played recently in the Meltwater tournament – Enjoy!

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