Seventeen-year-old IM Hans Moke Niemann overpowered 11-year old prodigy and fellow IM Abhimanyu Mishra to gain a grandmaster norm and retain the lead with one round to go in the 2020 Fall GM Norm Invitational now ongoing at the Charlotte Chess Center & Scholastic Academy in North Carolina, United States.
GM Kamil Dragun remained within a whisker of the young Niemann after beating IM Daniel Fernandez also in Round 8. Another aspirant for the GM norm, 15-year old FM Balaji Daggupati, could only hold top seed GM Aleksander Mista to a draw.
Seven of the ten participants in the Fall GM Invitational are competing for a GM norm, but as of Round 8, only Daggupati remains in contention to achieve the 6½ points required to gain it. Daggupati has 5½ points so far and must win his final round game against 11-year old Mishra to get the norm.
The standings after Round 8: 1. Niemann, 6½; 2. Dragun, 6; 3. Daggupati, 5½; 4-5. Mista, Ostrovskij, 4½; 6. Fernandez, 3½; 7. Gauri, 3; 8-9. Stremavicius, Mishra, 2½; 10. Liang, 1½.
Dragun, K (2561) – Fernandez, D (2470) [D46]
Charlotte (8.2), 04.10.2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 Bb7 11.e4 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.h3 Re8 15.Be3 a6 16.Rad1 Qc7 17.f4 Bxc3 18.bxc3 c5 19.e5 c4 20.Be2 Be4 21.Qc1 Nd5 22.Bd4 Qc6 23.Bf3 Bxf3 24.Rxf3 f6 25.exf6 Nxf6 26.f5 Rad8 27.Rg3 Rd7 28.Qh6 Kf8 29.Qh4 Re4 30.Qg5 b4 31.Kh2 Rexd4 32.Rxd4 bxc3 33.Rxd7 Qxd7 34.Qf4 Qd2 35.Qb8+ 1-0
Ostrovskiy, A (2427)-Liang, J (2367) [B15]
Charlotte (8.3) 2020
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 g6 4.d4 Bg7 5.h3 dxe4 6.Nxe4 Nf6 7.Nxf6+ exf6 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 a5 10.Re1 Na6 11.c3 Nc7 12.Bf4 Nd5 13.Bh2 a4 14.c4 Nb4 15.Bf1 a3 16.Qb3 axb2 17.Qxb2 Na6 18.Rad1 Re8 19.Rxe8+ Qxe8 20.d5 Qd8 21.Qd4 c5 22.Qb2 b6 23.a3 Nb8 24.Re1 Nd7 25.Qb3 Ba6 26.Nd2 f5 27.Nf3 Qf8 28.Qa4 Qd8 29.Qc6 Rc8 30.Qa4 Ra8 31.Qc6 Rc8 32.Qd6 Bf8 33.Qf4 Qf6 34.Ne5 Nxe5 35.Qxe5 Qxe5 36.Bxe5 Re8 37.f4 f6 38.Bc3 Rxe1 39.Bxe1 Bd6 40.g3 Kf7 41.Kf2 Ke7 42.Bc3 Bc8 43.Bd3 Bd7 44.Bc2 Kf7 45.Ke3 g5 46.Bd1 Kg6 47.a4 Bc7 48.Bd2 Bc8 49.Kd3 Bd7 50.Kc3 h6 51.Kb3 h5 52.h4 g4 53.Be3 Bd6 54.Bc2 Kf7 55.a5 bxa5 56.Ka3 Ke7 57.Ba4 Bc8 58.Bb5 Kd8 59.Ka4 Bb7 60.Bd2 Ke7 61.Bxa5 Bc8 62.Bb6 Bb7 63.Ba7 Bc8 64.Ka5 Bc7+ 65.Bb6 Bd6 66.Bc6 Kf7 67.Kb5 Kg6 68.Bxc5 Ba6+ 69.Kb6 Bxc4 70.Bxd6 Kh7 71.Kc5 Ba2 72.Be8 Kh6 73.Bf8+ Kh7 74.Bf7 Bxd5 75.Kxd5 Kh8 76.Ke6 Kh7 77.Kxf6 Kh8 78.Kxf5 Kh7 79.Kg5 Kh8 80.Kxh5 Kh7 81.Kxg4 Kh8 82.Kf5 Kh7 83.Kf6 Kh8 84.g4 Kh7 85.g5 Kh8 86.h5 Kh7 87.g6+ Kh8 88.g7+ Kh7 89.g8B+ Kh8 90.Bg7# 1-0
Mista, A (2574)-Daggupati, B (2331) [B33]
Charlotte (8.4) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7 11.Bd3 Ne7 12.Nxe7 Qxe7 13.0-0 0-0 14.c4 f5 15.Qf3 d5 16.cxd5 fxe4 17.Bxe4 Rb8 18.Rfd1 Qd7 19.d6 Rb6 20.Rac1 Rxd6 21.Rxd6 Qxd6 22.h4 f5 23.Bd5+ Kh8 24.Rc6 Qb4 25.Nc2 Qxh4 26.Qc3 Bb7 27.Rd6 e4 28.Qc5 Rc8 29.Qb6 Bxd5 30.Rxd5 h6 31.g3 Qg5 32.Rc5 Rf8 33.Qe6 Qc1+ 34.Kg2 f4 35.Rc8 Qxb2 36.gxf4 Rxc8 37.Qxc8+ Kh7 38.Qf5+ Kg8 39.Qe6+ Kh8 40.Qe8+ Kh7 41.Qxe4+ Kh8 42.Qe8+ Kh7 43.Qe4+ Kh8 44.Qe8+ ½-½
Mishra, A (2342)-Niemann, HM (2465) [C55]
Charlotte (8.5) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.c3 d6 6.0-0 g5 7.Nbd2 g4 8.Ne1 h5 9.f4 exf4 10.Rxf4 Bh6 11.Rf1 Qe7 12.Nb3 Ne5 13.Bxh6 Rxh6 14.Nd2 Bd7 15.Bb3 g3 16.h3 Nfg4 17.Qe2 Nh2 18.Qe3 Rh7 19.Rf4 h4 20.d4 Ng6 21.Nd3 0-0-0 22.Re1 Re8 23.e5 Nxf4 24.Nxf4 c6 25.Nc4 d5 26.Nd6+ Qxd6 27.exd6 Rxe3 28.Rxe3 Rh6 29.Ne2 Re6 30.Rxe6 Bxe6 31.Bc2 Kd7 32.Nf4 Kxd6 33.b4 b5 34.a4 bxa4 35.Bxa4 Bf5 36.Bb3 Be6 37.Ba4 Bc8 38.Bd1 Ba6 39.Be2 Bxe2 40.Nxe2 Ke6 41.Nc1 Kf5 42.Nb3 Ke4 43.Na5 f5 44.Nxc6 f4 45.b5 f3 46.gxf3+ Nxf3+ 47.Kf1 Ng5 48.Ne5 Nxh3 49.Ng6 g2+ 50.Kxg2 Nf4+ 51.Nf4 Kf4 52.Kh3 Ke4 53.Kh4 Kd3 54.Kg4 Kxc3 55.Kf5 Kxd4 56.Ke6 Kc5 0-1
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ke1!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Sb4, Qb6 2.d4#; 1…Qc3, Sc3 2.dxc3#; 1…Qxd2+ 2.Qxd2#; 1…c3 2.d3#./PN
