Mumbai, Dec. 23 -- Before flying into Mumbai, Wesley So's most recent act in India was a dramatic resignation from an objectively drawn position in his first match at the Goa World Cup. Competing for "local team" UpGrad Mumba Masters at the Global Chess League has been far more fun for the Filipino-American GM. At 32, So, who achieved a peak classical Elo rating of 2822 and became world No.2 in 2017, is still eager to improve in today's changed chess world. In this interview, the world No.11 talks about the need for players to pick and choose events. Excerpts: It's been a decent year, fairly quiet. Compared to other players, I didn't play as many events. It's been much better than last year, which was really bad. But if I didn't play Goa, I would've been world No.6 now. Things just went wrong there. It's okay, I can bounce back. The problem is, the chess world has changed so much, I don't even know when my next classical tournament is going to be. It's great because you don't need to play every tournament. It's much better to play one great tournament than 10 bad ones. You just pick one tour, do well, and you're set for the year. Like the Grand Chess Tour is my favourite - I've been playing there for 10 straight years. You get this flexibility. You can play online or in person, play blitz or rapid or classical or freestyle. Well, you have to work smart, not work hard. As a professional, you pick and choose. You also have to factor things like age and stamina. As a chess professional now, you need to be really fit so that you don't get too tired playing all these events. Even if you play one good event in a month or so, you are set. For instance, me playing in Goa (World Cup) was not a very smart move. Also, Gukesh, he didn't play in the Grand Slam Final in Dec. That's true. When I was 14, I could play chess non-stop for two months, 4-5 events in a row. I can't do that anymore. Online chess and streaming really help. Also, The Queen's Gambit (OTT) show in the pandemic (helped). The thing is, in the US, compared to India, we don't have any government support. So, it really depends a lot on private donors and individuals. That's always the eternal question. But you have to introduce more people to the game. Like now, chess is taught in high schools. You bring interest, new kids into the game. It's hard to say because chess is not very easily marketable. Like in the US, soccer, basketball and baseball will always be at the top. With chess, it's a bit tough. It is the motivation to improve, to play better chess. It's important to set long-term life goals. Without that, you are just moving pieces. That's a good thing in chess - there's always a better player than you. The main motivation is to be the best that I can be. Obviously, I made a few mistakes in my career. Maybe I could've been a bit better. But I take it a day at a time, and try to play better chess each day....