Another One! Mark Heimann Earns GM Title Days After Second Norm

Less than two weeks ago, we reported on IM Mark Heimann earning his second GM norm at the U.S. Masters in Charlotte. And yet, less than a week after the conclusion of the Masters, Heimann earned his final GM norm and enough FIDE rating points to cross the 2500 threshold, making him eligible for the GM title and the next FIDE Congress.

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The Saint Louis Masters – held from December 3 through 7 at the Royal Sonesta Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, MIssouri — featured 59 strong players competing for FIDE Circuit points and a share of a $100,000 prize fund.

GMs Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Donchenko (Germany) tied for first with 6½/9 scores, a half-point ahead of a half-dozen grandmasters who tied for third. Full results are available on Chess-Results.com.

Caruana and Donchenko each earned $17,500 for their share of first place (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

With such a strong field of competitors, Heimann's 5/9 score earned him a 2687 performance rating. A grandmaster norm requires a performance rating of at least 2600. Just like in Charlotte, Heimann's performance was so strong that he managed to guarantee his norm with a round to spare. Indeed, as soon as Croatian GM Ivan Saric made his first move, Heimann's final norm was secured.

Heimann during his round 7 game against Caruana (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

Heimann's pairings put him through the gauntlet, as he faced nine consecutive grandmasters. Despite this, he was on the top board for round 7, boasting a 4½/6 score that included wins against GMs Grigoriy Oparin, Viktor Matviishen, and GM Nikolas Theodorou. After his loss to Caruana, a draw against GM Ray Robson was enough to clinch the norm.

Heimann entered the Thanksgiving holiday with a FIDE rating of 2459 and one GM norm to his name. Considering that the 31-year-old computer scientist earned that norm in April of this year, and that he only earned his IM title last year, that's nothing to scoff at for anybody, let alone an adult with a day job. After earning his doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2020, Heimann took a position at the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where his research focuses on machine learning.

Turkish IM Isik Can was the only non-GM to finish in the top eight (Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC)

The only other player to earn a norm in St. Louis was another familiar norm-winning name from Charlotte: Turkish IM Isik Can. Going undefeated in eight games against grandmasters, Can finished with a 6/9 score that gave him a share of third place and a 2766 performance rating. His seventh-round win against American GM Sam Shankland (rated 2672 FIDE) was his most impressive result.

Photo courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC

Caruana's share of first earned him 16.39 points on the 2024 FIDE Circuit leaderboard. With a spot in the next FIDE Candidates Tournament reserved for the top finisher in each of the 2024 and 2025 FIDE Circuits, Caruana now has the inside track on the spot ahead of Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi (who finished second earlier today in the Qatar Masters). The FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships, held later this month in New York, will be Caruana and Arjun's last chance to add to their overall score.

All games from the Saint Louis Masters can be replayed on Chess.com.