A 17-YEAR-old IM is surprisingly leading the 2020 Fall GM Norm Invitational now ongoing at the Charlotte Chess Center & Scholastic Academy in North Carolina, USA.
American FM Balaji Daggupati (2331) is half-a-point ahead of a 10-player field that includes GMs Aleksander Mista (2574) and Kamil Dragun (2561) of Poland, GM Titas Stremavicius (2517) of Lithuania, IMs Daniel Fernandez (2470), Hans Moke Niemann (2465), Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2427) and Abhimanyu Mishra (2342) of the USA, FMs Jason Liang (2367), also of the USA and FM Shankar Gauri (2353) of India. The 15-year old Daggupati is the surprise second placer.
The classical chess competition is a Category 8 (average Elo: 2441) single round robin with a time format of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds increment. The tournament also runs alongside a 10-player Category 4 (average Elo: 2325) 2020 Fall IM Norm Invitational. Both norm events intends to develop grandmasters and international masters from among local titled players from North Carolina.
The Fall GM Norm standings after Round 6: 1. Niemann, 5; 2. Daggupati, 4½; 3. Dragun, 4; 5-6. Mista, Fernandez, 3½; 6. Ostrovskij, 3; 7. Mishra, 2½; 8. Stremavicius, 2; 9-10. Liang, Gauri, 1½.
Niemann, HM (2465)-Daggupati, B (2331) [A09]
Charlotte (1.5) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 Bg4 4.Qb3 c6 5.g3 d3 6.h3 Bh5 7.Bg2 dxe2 8.Nc3 Nd7 9.d4 e5 10.g4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Bg6 12.Ncxe2 h5 13.g5 c5 14.Nb5 a6 15.Qe3+ Be7 16.Nd6+ Kf8 17.Nxb7 Qc7 18.0-0 Re8 19.Nf4 Bf5 20.Re1 cxb4 21.Bb2 Rh7 22.Rad1 Qb8 23.Rd5 g6 24.Rxf5 gxf5 25.g6 fxg6 26.Nxg6+ Kf7 27.Qe6# 1-0
Ostrovskiy, A(2427)-Niemann, H (2465) [C55]
Charlotte (6.4) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.c3 d6 6.Nbd2 g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.0-0 0-0 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.a4 Qe7 11.b4 Rd8 12.Qc2 Nh5 13.Re1 Qf6 14.Nf1 Bg4 15.N3d2 Nf4 16.Ne3 Be6 17.Ba3 Bf8 18.Bxe6 Qxe6 19.Nb3 b6 20.h4 a5 21.b5 Bxa3 22.Rxa3 Ne7 23.g3 Qh3 24.Raa1 g5 25.hxg5 hxg5 26.Rad1 Kg7 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.gxf4 Rh8 0-1
Daggupati, B (2331)-Fernandez, D (2470) [B86]
Charlotte (5.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7 8.f4 Nc5 9.e5 Nfd7 10.exd6 Nf6 11.Qf3 Bxd6 12.Be3 0-0 13.0-0-0 Qc7 14.Kb1 Nxb3 15.Nxb3 Bd7 16.Rhf1 Bc6 17.Qh3 b5 18.Bd4 b4 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Rd3 f5 21.Nd4 Bxf4 22.Nxc6 bxc3 23.Qh4 Qxc6 24.Qxf4 Rfb8 25.b3 Kf8 26.Qh6+ Ke8 27.Rg3 Qb5 28.Re1 Qd5 29.Rxc3 Rd8 30.Rg3 Rd6 31.Qf6 Kd7 32.Qxf7+ Kc6 33.Rd3 1-0
Fernandez, D (2470)-Mista, A (2574) [B76]
Charlotte (2.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.g4 Be6 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.0-0-0 Ne5 12.Be2 Qc8 13.Kb1 Ne8 14.Rhf1 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Qxc4 16.Ne2 Nc7 17.h4 a5 18.h5 Nb5 19.Qd3 Qb4 20.c3 Qa4 21.b3 Na3+ 22.Kb2 Qc6 23.Kxa3 b5 24.Kb2 b4 25.Bd4 a4 26.Bxg7 axb3 27.axb3 Kxg7 28.cxb4 e5 29.hxg6 hxg6 30.f4 Qb6 31.Qd2 Rh8 32.Rh1 Qa7 33.Rxh8 Qa3+ 34.Kc2 Rxh8 35.Nc3 Rc8 36.Rb1 Qxb4 37.fxe5 Qxe4+ 38.Kb2 Qxg4 39.exd6 exd6 40.Ra1 Rc7 41.Nd5 1-0
Dragun, K (2561)-Liang, J (2367) [B10]
Charlotte (4.4) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.d3 Qc7 4.Nc3 dxe4 5.dxe4 e5 6.Bc4 Bg4 7.h3 Bh5 8.g4 Bg6 9.Nh4 Nd7 10.Qf3 Nb6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Bb3 Nf6 13.a4 Bb4 14.a5 Nc8 15.Bg5 Nh7 16.Be3 Nd6 17.a6 b6 18.0-0-0 Rd8 19.h4 Bxc3 20.bxc3 Nf6 21.Bg5 Ke7 22.h5 gxh5 23.gxh5 Nde8 24.Rxd8 Qxd8 25.Qf5 Qc7 26.f4 Kf8 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Rd1 Ng7 29.Qd7 Ne8 30.Bxf7 Qxd7 31.Rxd7 exf4 32.Bg6 f3 33.Kd2 b5 34.Ke3 c5 35.Kxf3 b4 36.cxb4 cxb4 37.Rxa7 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ne4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…g6+ 2.Sef6#; 1…g5+, Re5/h3 2.Q(x)e5#; 1…Ke6 2.Qxd7#./PN
