IM Arthur Guo Earns Third GM Norm in Hungary

IM Arthur Guo earned his final GM norm in Budapest, Hungary, during the June 2023 First Saturday GM Norm tournament.

IM Arthur Guo (photo courtesy of the organizers)

The 2022 Denker co-champion posted an impressive 7/9 score with five wins and four draws. Interestingly, all five of his decisive games began with the king’s pawn, featuring two Rossolimo Sicilians as White and three Ruy Lopezes as Black.

He set the tone for his tournament from the start, choosing the more ambitious continuation as Black against an experienced Ukrainian grandmaster.

He followed up this comeback by completely out-preparing a young IM from Singapore in a trendy line of the Rossolimo.

Still, high-level chess is an unforgiving game. Just when Guo looked set to clinch his second win, a miraculous defensive resource appeared on the board for Black.

Position after 30. c7

When Low missed the miracle save, Guo retook control of the game. Check the above annotations to see the fantastic solution!

The rising high school senior apparently celebrated by playing another tournament in Hungary immediately after. Presumably he is taking the summer to catch the remaining rating points he will need to reach the 2500 rating threshold.

The next First Saturday tournaments in Budapest, Hungary will be held July 1-11, August 5-15, September 2-12, October 7-17, November 4-14, and December 2-12. The organizers can be contacted here.