Ortiz Suarez Wins in DC, Norms for Kannappan, Korley & Liang
By Steve Immitt   
July 2, 2014
GM Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez won $3000 and clear first in the DC International (June 26-30) which ended Monday

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IM Kannappan at the STL Chess Club

Meanwhile, norms abounded, including IM Priyadharshan Kannappan of India, who earned a GM norm. He played a very strong field from 8 different federations which included 6 GMs and 1 IM from, and he exceeded the norm requirements by one half point. See Kannapan's own CLO report on his first GM norm in the Chicago Open here.

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FM Kassa Korley played 4 GMs and 1 IM to make his own IM norm. Korley enthusiastically reported on facebook, "Y'all will have to start calling me IM Korley, just secured my final international master norm!"

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11-year-old Awonder Liang broke the record of the youngest US player to achieve an IM norm, which was previously set by Samuel Sevian when he was only 11 himself (but Sevian was about three months older at the time than Awonder is now).  Awonder's opponents hailed from eight federations scattered among five different continents, and included 1 GM, 5 IMs and 1 FM.

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Awonder Liang, Photo Cliff Yates


Well-deserved congratulations to all three!

The DC International was the precursor to the World Open (June 30-July 6). Follow along on the official website and look for video coverage from the scene on our YouTube Channel.