Fiery Chess in Chicago
By Sevan Muradian   
April 20, 2008
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With 2/2, WFM Alisa Melekhina has a shot at WIM, WGM or IM norms.

In the 10th North American FIDE Invitational in Chicago, April 19-25, ten games have completed so far with only one draw - and a hard fought one at that. The decisiveness of the games is a testament to the fighting spirit and creativity to this group of players.
 
The stars of the show with 2/2 each include WFM Alisa Melekhina, FM Mehmed Pasalic, and IM Angelo Young (who is also the owner/operator of the Touch Move Chess Center).
 
Alisa has been on a tear in the first two rounds, first dispatching of Chessbase lecturer, FM Dennis Monokroussos and then tournament top seed IM Mesgen Amanov.

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Alisa needs 2 more points out of 7 games remaining to score his second WIM norm. Her WGM norm requires 6/9 and her IM norm requires 6.5/9.
 
FM Mehmed Pasalic, who has captured both of his IM norm in this tournament series and the latest one only last month, opened by scorching his two opponents, veteran players FM Albert Chow and FM Dennis Monokroussos.

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Mehmed needs 6.5/9 for his final IM norm (he's been over 2400 previously) and he would be the first fully titled player to score all of his norms in this tournament series! Mehmed is also part of the Chicago Blaze US Chess League team and will be a force to reckon with in the league.
 
Round by round coverage of the event can be found at http://www.nachess.org
 
All games are being broadcast LIVE on the MonRoi World Databank of Chess at http://www.monroi.com/wdc