Finegold Leads in Chicago
By Sevan Muradian   
January 21, 2008
finegoldCLOlead.jpgAfter two rounds of the 7th North American FIDE Invitational (Chicago,Jan 20-26), Michigan's IM Ben Finegold leads the pack with two out two. In the first round, Finegold played against Thomas Bartell. The New Jersey FM faced an unfortunate disqualification when his phone rang in an equal position. According to FIDE rules, he was forfeited.
 





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Dr. Tansel Turgut, a cardiologist from Decatur, IL who plays for Turkey had a fantastic win over FM Dr. Ricardo Szmetan and then a draw with IM Angelo Young.
 
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Long-time Chicago area chess master FM Albert Chow rolled a first round win over junior player Gauri Shankar (rated 2350) to a hard fought draw with FM Dr. Ricardo Szmetan.
 
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FM Albert Chow


With 6/9 for an IM norm no one is out of the running yet and if a couple of players keep up their games they can walk away with a norm.

 North American Fide Invitational
Standings after 2 rounds
1st- 2.0/2.0
IM Ben Finegold
 

2nd - 4th - 1.5/2.0
IM Angelo Young
FM Albert Chow
Tansel Turgut
 
5th - 7th- 1.0/2.0
IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan
FM Tom Bartell
FM Mehmed Pasalic
 
8th - .5/2.0
FM Ricardo Szmetan
 
9th - 10th- 0/2.0
Gauri Shankar
Bill Calton
 
All games are broadcast on the MonRoi World Databank of Chess - http://www.monroi.com/wdc
 The 7th North American FIDE Invitational is the current installment of the FIDE title norm tournaments operated by the North American Chess Association. This year the North American Chess Association has 12 title norm events scheduled, 10 IM norm and 2 GM norm.
 
The rules of these events slightly differ in that there are no draw offers allowed prior to 30 moves unless it is a repetition of position, stalemate, or no mating material. This was done to limit the amount of professional draws and elevate the fighting spirit of the games.
For tournament information visit http://www.nachess.org/fide.