Van Wely Wins in Chicago as Norm Season Begins |
June 1, 2010 | |
Chicago Open (May 27-31), Loek Van Wely of the Netherlands won clear first with the excellent score of 7.5/9. Going into Monday morning, Loek was half a point behind GM Giorgi Kacheishvili, but won in fine style with black to take the lead going into the last round, along with Akobian and Shankland. To stake sole claim to the top prize of $10,000, Loek had to play dream crusher in the final round against IM Sam Shankland, who needed a draw for his final GM norm. 4488 4491 Van Wely was also helped by GM Michael Adams, who dispatched GM Varuzhan Akobian in the final round. Adams was half a point behind the leaders, so this was only enough to put the famous British GM in a tie for 2nd-5th with GMs Evgeny Najer, Victor Mikhalevski and Jiri Stocek. 4489 Despite the disappointment to Shankland fans, the season of hunting and fishing kicked off in style, with Tatev Abrahamyan, Jake Kleiman and Timur Aliyev all earning IM norms. Viktorija Ni scored a WIM norm. For the record, Tatev also earned a WGM norm, though she has made clear in the past that her interest lies in gaining IM norms. This was Kleiman's final IM norm. With 6.5/9, Kleiman took home the $3000 Under 2450 (FIDE) prize uncontested. Tatev's round five win over Alexander Shabalov kick-started her excellent result, which puts her USCF rating just over 2400 for the first time ever. 4490 Abrahamyan also tied for first with Raymond Kaufman for the Under 2300 prize, netting them each $2250. See complete standings in all seven sections, games and more on the official website. Stay tuned to CLO for more from the Chicago Open, including a story by popular chess dad blogger, Mark Schein. Chicago Open Photo Gallery |
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