Sam Shankland, Photo courtesy Inga Gurevich
As round nine nears its conclusion, Arun provided a further update, "Both SM Denys Shmelov and FM Keaton Kiewra have also earned GM norms now! Three in this event is quite incredible. Also, both FM Conrad Holt and SM Roman Yankovsky got the results needed to complete their IM titles, and FM Daniel Naroditsky is still playing but also has a chance to do the same!"
IM Sam Shankland: Clinches final GM norm with at least a draw in round nine. Can also score a GM norm with a loss in round nine and a win in round ten, provided opponent in round ten is rated at least 2450.
SM Denys Shmelov: Has clinched IM norm and will clinch GM norm with a win in round nine. Can also score a GM norm with a draw in round nine and a win in round ten if opponent in round ten is rated at least 2390.
FM Keaton Kiewra: Has clinched his final IM norm and will clinch GM norm with a win in round nine. Will also score a GM norm with a draw in round nine and win in round ten if opponent in round ten is rated at least 2450.
FM Daniel Naroditsky: Will clinch final IM norm with at least a draw in round nine. Can also score a ten round IM norm with a loss in round nine and a win in round ten, if round ten opponent is rated at least 2340.
SM Roman Yankovsky: Will clinch final IM norm with at least a draw in round nine. Can also score a ten round IM norm with a loss in round nine and a win in round ten, if round ten opponent is rated at least 2285.
FM Darwin Yang: Will clinch final IM norm with a win in round nine. Can also score a ten round IM norm with a draw in round nine and a win in round ten, if round ten opponent is rated at least 2355.
FM Conrad Holt: Will clinch final IM norm with a win in round nine. Can also score a ten round IM norm with a draw in round nine and a win in round ten, if round ten opponent is rated at least 2235.
NM Giovanni Carreto: Will clinch IM norm with wins in round nine and ten if opponent in round ten is rated at least 2500.