Memorial Day Weekend Wrap-Up: Putnam's First GM Norm, Khanin Wins Chicago, and More

Editor’s note: Since becoming Digital Editor for Chess Life Online, I have dreamt of publishing more regular wrap-ups of the sorts of events that are eligible for our Plan Ahead Calendar (as well as invitational tournaments).

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NYC Norms

Games | Results: GM A | IM B | IM C

17-year-old IM Liam Putnam earned his first GM norm at NYC Chess Norms’ Memorial Day Marshall Invitational. Putnam won the GM-A group with an undefeated 7/9 score.

IM Liam Putnam and FA Carlos Chavez outside the Marshall Chess Club with Liam's GM Norm Certificate (Photo courtesy of NYC Chess Norms)

IM Alex Ostrovskiy annotates two of Putnam’s victories below:

In the IM-B group, FM Bryan Enming Lin bounced back from his last-round loss in the K-8 Championship section of SuperNationals VIII to take clear first with a 6/9 score.

GM Artem Omelja versus FM Bryan Lin (Photo courtesy of NYC Chess Norms)

While Lin fell short of a norm, the 7th-grader’s sharp play was certainly impressive:

While no norms were earned in the IM C group either, Haari Muthukumar qualified for the FM title in the C group.

Haari Muthukumar crossed 2300 FIDE, making him eligible for the FM title (Photo courtesy of NYC Chess Norms)

The invitational was held at the Marshall Chess Club from May 22 through 26. The IO was Keith Espinosa and the Chief/Deputy Arbiters were FAs Carlos Chavez and Greg Keener.

The view at the Marshall Chess Club (Photo courtesy of NYC Chess Norms)

It was the 23rd Norm Invitational for NYC Chess Norms, and the total number of norms achieved is now up to 52, with Putnam’s being the 13th GM norm of the bunch. The next NYC Chess Norms invitational tournament is the July Six Day Event (July 8-13),

Chicago Open

Games | Results

The reigning U.S. Open Co-Champions had a strong showing at the 34th annual Chicago Open, held May 22 through 26 in Wheeling, Illinois. GM Semen Khanin posted a dominant 8/9 score, clinching first with a round to spare and earning $10,300 for his efforts. GM Jianchao Zhou — who lost to Khanin in the 2024 U.S. Open tie-breaker game — finished in clear second with a 7/9 score, bouncing back after a second-round loss to Andrew Titus to claim a $5,000 prize.

Below are two highlights from Khanin’s tournament and a nice endgame win from Zhou. All annotations from hereon out are by the author. Keep an eye out for more games from these tournaments in future Wednesday Workouts.

Behind Khanin and Zhou, there was a five-way tie for third with 6½/9, good for $1,240 each for GMs Christhian Cruz, Bharathakoti Harsha, and Emilio Cordova along with IMs Samrug Narayanan and Samuel Schmakel. FM Tugstumur Yesuntumur and IM Jason Liang earned the top Under-2400 prizes, taking home $1,500 each.

12th Cherry Blossom Classic

Games | Results

GMs Titas Stremavicius and Luka Budisavljevic tied for first with 7/9 scores at the 12th Cherry Blossom Classic, held May 22 through 26 in Sterling, Virginia. The two grandmasters took home $3,400 each, while Armenian GM Manuel Petrosyan was clear third with 6½/9, earning $1,600.

2025 Southern California State Championship

Games and Results

While the rest of this report focused on open tournaments and norm invitationals, one other event caught my eye due to the strength and prestige of the field.

GMs Vladimir Akopian and Arman Mikaelyan shared top honors at the 2025 Southern California State Championship, held May 23 through 26 in Van Nuys. The co-champions both finished undefeated with 4½/7 scores.

GM Kirk Ghazarian was the only other player to finish with a plus-score. The ultra-strong eight-player field featured six GMs along with IM Robert Shlyakhtenko and FM Mikayel Rostomyan.

Akopian at the 2024 U.S. Senior Championship (Photo courtesy of Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Akopian is the reigning U.S. Senior Champion, which raises an interesting trivia question: How many current state champions are either age 50+ (i.e., seniors) or under the age of 20 as of January 1, 2025 (i.e., juniors)?