Wesley So out of Asian Zonals

Wesley So, out of Zonal, so is the World Cup hope this year

It is finally confirmed. Just as we thought that Wesley has change his mind. GM Wesley So will not be participating in the upcoming Asian Zonals 3.3 Chess Championships to be held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from July 22 to 30. The news that Wesley will skip the Zonal first sparked in Wesley's page at chessgames.com a couple of weeks ago but recent reports circulating on various online newspapers, chess sites and forums suggest that Wesley is actually Vietnam bound. In fact, in a recent interview by Chessdom to Wesley, he did not mentioned about his participation at the Zonal and that his next tournament will be the SPICE Cup, in Texas this coming September. Like other chess afficionados who are following the progress of Wesley So, I too was extremely baffled by the news. To finally settle the issue, we decided to send an email to Wesely's mother, Mrs Lenny So, and she has this confirmation to ChessHeroes:

"The news surprised us...Wesley is not joining (the Asian Zonal). After he arrived from China last July 8, he decided not to join. We have informed the Director of NCFP."

And now the reasons why Wesley skipped the Zonal...

"I do not know the reasons, we just respect whatever decisions he made. He might be burned out of training himself alone or just not in the mood. There must have someone to guide him to a higher level. If none, he can always go back to his studies."

So there it is folks. Wesley is out of Asian Zonal. SPICE Cup 2009, September 19-29 Texas Tech Univeristy USA is next for Wesley So. The Zonals 3.3 will also serves as qualifying tournament for the World Cup of Chess later this year in Russia where other Filipino, GM Rogelio Antonio booked a slot to World Cup after finishing tie for second in Asian Individual championship last May in Subic.

I would like to thank Mrs Lenny So for her time in answering our questions and wish her and her son all the best in the world.