In the 10th North American FIDE International in Chicago, WFM Alisa Melekhina has been on fire. In round eight, she scored the half point required to lock in her WGM norm. With a time scramble draw against FM Gauri Shankar, Alisa was able to hold off the local FM to secure her WGM title. Alisa has already earned her WIM norm from the event and is a half point away from her IM norm. The person that stands in her way is Chicago area veteran chess master FM Albert Chow.Alisa has methodically played through the entire field without losing a game. She came in as one of the underdogs (3rd lowest rating) but has proven that she is a force to recoken with. Should she score the IM norm she will also pick up around 48 FIDE rating points! Fantastic for the first time playing in an event such as this. To play through more of Alisa's games from the tournament, check out the CLO reports after two rounds , after four rounds and after five.
Check out her Round 8 game against FM Gauri Shankar.
1868
10th North American FIDE International
Standings after eight rounds
1. IM Young- 6.5
2. WFM Melekina (WIM and WGM norm scored!)- 6
3. FM Pasalic-5.5
4. IM Amanov-4.5
5. FM Shankar-4
6-8- FM Chow, FM Stamnov and IM Vishnuvardhan-3.5
9-10-WFM Yuan and FM Monokroussos- 1.5