Five Norms Earned at Marshall Summer Invitational

Five players earned norms at NYC Chess Norms' Marshall Summer Six Day GM/IM Invitational, held July 8 through 13 at the Marshall Chess Club in Manhattan. 

In the GM A section, IM Samrug Narayanan finished in clear first with a 6½/9 score, a 2607 FIDE performance rating, and his first GM norm. 

Norms galore in the GM B section, even with two GMs (and one IM: GM Gabor Nagy, GM Vojtech Plat, and IM Josiah Stearman) each posting 6/9 scores to tie for first. 

Instead, FMs Avi Kaplan and Gauri Shankar each earned IM norms for their 5½/9 scores. The result was meaningful for each player, but for different reasons. This was Kaplan's second IM norm (one more to go!), while it was Shankar's 11th IM norm. But, of course, the IM title requires three norms and a 2400 FIDE rating, and it's this latter requirement that has proven elusive for Shankar. But the 26 points he gained here put him on the cusp of the threshold!

Kaplan had a bit of a rollercoaster event as he stormed out of the gate with an impressive 3/3 score before slowing down with back-to-back losses in rounds 5 and 6 to eventual winners IM Josiah Stearman and GM Gabor Nagy. His round 7 game against Peruvian GM Cristhian Cruz was an epic battle in what ended up being the clinching victory for his second IM norm.

FM Gauri Shankar had a great event with 5½/9 and +26 FIDE to put him at 2397. He also earned an IM norm...if he needed any more than the 10 he already had prior! Now only thre rating points separate him from the IM title, and his round 2
win over FM Bryan Lin was one of the catalysts of his successful event.

Of the three IM sections, IM C and IM E saw norms while GM Mark Paragua held court in IM D, winning the section with a 7/9 score and keeping the upstarts at bay. 

In the C group, CM Ethan Guo's 6½/9 score was good for first place, an IM norm, and for propelling his FIDE rating over 2300 (a 128-point gain!) making him elligible for the FM title. A convincing four-game winning streak from rounds 3-6 cemented his norm. This miniature, from round 3, over Steve Wongso demonstrated excellent preparation and speed which also showed why he was just earned Gold at the Under-12 World Blitz Championship! 

In the E section, William Safranek posted a monstrous 7½/9 score to take home a 2517 performance rating to pick up 156 FIDE points and his first IM norm.