With 4 rounds completed we have 4 players in the norm hunt, none of which have an easy task ahead of them. FM Mehmed Pasalic leads the pack with 3.0 / 4.0, needing to go 3.5/5.0 to secure his second IM norm. Here is his victory over Marc Arnold:

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 FM Teddy Coleman, who needs 6/9 for an IM norm is in the same boat needing 3.5/5.0 for his second IM norm.

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Rounding out the last of the norm hunters are FM Gauri Shankar and NM Marc Arnold who need to go 4.0/5.0 to get their first IM norm.

 

 GM John Fedorowicz, seconding NM Marc Arnold, talks training concepts with top Chicago area chess coach Shiva Majaraj.

Upsets were well abundant in the tournament when IM Mesgen Amanov of Turkmenistan was taken out by NM Marc Arnold.

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Marc Arnold

In the following round FM Raja Panjwani took out Touch Move Chess Center owner, IM Angelo Young.

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Mehmed Pasalic leads after four rounds

The standings are as follows:

 

1st: 3.0 / 4.0
FM Pasalic

2nd - 4th: 2.5 / 4.0
FM Shankar
FM Coleman
NM Arnold

5th - 7th: 2.0 / 4.0
IM Amanov
IM Vishnuvardhan
IM Young

8th - 9th: 1.5 / 4.0
FM Panjwani
FM Tsyganov

10th: 0.5 / 4.0
FM Chow

 

The last 5 rounds will be played at 6:30pm Chicago time Monday thru Friday. All games can be followed live on the MonRoi World Databank of Chess at http://www.monroi.com/wdc 

 

The chess doesn't end on Friday in Chicago as we have the Illinois Denker Qualifier tournament and the Illinois Polgar Qualifier / All Girls State Championship on March 29-30. The event will feature 2-time US Woman's Champion IM Irina Krush and GM Pascal Charbonneau. Irina will be working with the girls during the Polgar/All Girls event and Pascal will be working with the participants in the Denker Qualifier.

 

From March 31 to Thursday, April 3 IM Irina Krush will be taking on 4-time Woman's Champion of Armenia, IM Lilit Mkrtchian in a 4-game match. There will be live coverage on MonRoi. More information can be found at http://www.nachess.org/match