Tani Crosses 2400, Qualifies for IM Title at NYC Chess Norms Spring Invitational

Several players came up just short of a norm at NYC Chess Norms' 2025 Spring Invitational, but there was still plenty of inventive, enterprising chess and one career milestone earned last weekend. FM Tanitoluwa "Tani" Adewumi — the 14-year-old star who learned how the pieces move just five years ago — completed the final hurdle to qualify for the IM title by crossing the 2400 FIDE rating threshold for the first time. 

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Tani against Raja Harshit (All photos courtesy of NYC Chess Norms)

Competing in the GM A section, Adewumi rose to 2408 in the live FIDE ratings with his 5th round win over GM Oliver Barbosa, where he managed to overcome significant time trouble:

With two rounds to go, Adewumi had a shot at earning his first GM norm if he could defeat two grandmasters on the final day. While he lost to GM Mark Paragua in the final round, some seriously fearless play that morning against GM Raja Harshit showed his fighting spirit in a "must-win" situation. Still, his 6/9 score was good for clear first!

Barbosa and IM Liam Putnam tied for second with 5½/9 in the GM A. Also coming up just shy of a norm was Ethan Sheehan, whose 4½/9 score featured a number of interesting moments, including his king walk in the opening phase against Putnam:

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Ethan Sheehan played one of the more inventive games of the tournament, falling just shy of an IM norm

In the IM B section, IM Mark Plotkin finished in clear first with 6/9, and the top norm-seeker was Linxi Zhu, finishing a half-point behind in a tie for second with IM Mykola Bortnyk. The game below between Zhu and Bortnyk must be played through in full, as words cannot do it justice. 

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Linxi Zhu was rook-up against an IM, but material isn't everything