Fall 2018 CCCSA GM/IM Norm Invitational - Preview!

Author: Grant Oen, CCCSA Assistant Director

CCCSA's Eight Norm Tournament!

This Thanksgiving's GM/IM Norm Invitational will be the 8th in our series of norm invitational tournaments - we have hosted 5 of these events in 2018 alone!


These norm tournaments offer great opportunities for players to earn FIDE norms and titles - 20 norms and 10 titles have been earned at these events.  The format is a 9 game round robin (all-play-all) played at a FIDE time control of 90 minutes with 30 second increment.  The tournament lasts from Wednesday, November 21 through Sunday, November 25.


The tournament will take place at the Charlotte Chess Center's new location, and will have two 10-player sections, one for GM norms, and one for IM norms.  All norm hunters can earn their respective norms by earning a score of at least 6.5 out of 9.  There will also be a 6-round Junior Invitational tournament for players rated over 1900.


The 20 invited players include 3 GMs, 9 IMs, 6 FMs, and 2 NMs.  These players represent 8 federations (Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, India, Lithuania, Mexico, Spain, and the USA) and 9 states (Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia).



Here are the players:


GM Section (GM norm = 6.5/9), Avg Rating 2445 FIDE, 2534 USCF

GM Tanguy Ringoir (Belgium, FIDE 2527, USCF 2604)

• Wins over GMs Georgiev, Ganguly, Vaganian, Lenic, Najer, Durarbayli
• Fourth highest rated player in Belgium
• 2018 Maryland Blitz Champion and Maryland Action Champion
• Represented Belgium at the 2012 and 2014 Chess Olympiads
• Two time Belgian national champion
• UMBC chess team member, represented UMBC at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and National Final Four of College Chess
• Earned his 3 GM norms in 3 different countries: Belgium, Spain, USA
• Has 13 wins, 31 draws, and only 1 loss in previous CCCSA GM Norm Invitationals
• This is GM Ringoir's 6th CCCSA Norm Invitational

GM Angel Arribas Lopez (Spain, FIDE 2480, USCF 2565)

• Wins over GMs Smeets, Granda Zuniga, Fedorchuk, Fier, Landa, Dragun, Korneev, Ipatov, Anton Guijarro
• 34th highest rated player in Spain
• =1st at 2017 Philadelphia Open, =2nd at 2017 US Open
• UT Dallas chess team member, represented UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and Texas Collegiate Superfinal
• This is GM Arribas Lopez's 2nd CCCSA Norm Invitational

GM David Berczes (Hungary, FIDE 2480, USCF 2551)

• Wins over GMs Le Quang Liem, Najer, Kuzubov, Robson, Baramidze, Fier, Macieja
• 32nd highest rated player in Hungary
• 5th place at the 2014 Millionaire Chess Open
• Represented Hungary at the 2004 and 2006 World Youth U16 Chess Olympiads
• UT Dallas chess team member, represented UTD at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and National Final Four of College Chess
• This is GM Berczes' 1st CCCSA Norm Invitational

IM Nicolas Checa (New York, FIDE 2495, USCF 2601)

• Wins over GMs Smirin, Akobian, Sevian, Baryshpolets, Erenburg, Becerra, Macieja, Belous
• Top rated 16-year old in the country, #3 quick rating under age 21 in the US, #4 blitz rating under age 21 in the US
• Two GM norms and previous 2500+ FIDE rating, needs 1 more norm for GM title
• 2018 New York State High School Champion
• 2nd place, 2017 North American Junior U20 Championship
• 2017 SuperNationals Blitz Co-Champion
• Represented USA at the 2017 Match of the Millennials
• This is IM Checa's 3rd CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 for his final GM norm and the GM title

IM Kassa Korley (Denmark, FIDE 2453, USCF 2547)

• Kassa's Youtube Chess Channel
• CCCSA Interview
• Wins over GMs Ganguly, Timman, Dreev, Zherebukh, Shabalov, Bosiocic, Stripunsky, Mikhalevski
• 12th highest rated player in Denmark
• 1 GM norm, from Summer 2018 CCCSA Norm Invitational
• Former Member, Carolina Cobras' US Chess League team
• 2015 CCCSA Southeastern FIDE Champion
• Earned all 3 IM norms in 3 weeks in the summer of 2014
• This is IM Korley's 6th CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 for his second GM norm

IM Kevin Wang (Maryland, FIDE 2442, USCF 2527)

• Wins over GMs Corrales, Jimenez, Pap, Friedel, Praggnanandhaa, Panchanathan, Gulko, Azarov
• University of Chicago chess team member, represented U Chicago at Pan-American Intercollegiate Chess Championship
• Represented Maryland at the US Chess Denker Tournament of High School Champions
• Represented USA at the World Youth Championship
• Earned his final IM norm and rating at the Winter 2017 CCCSA Norm Invitational
• This is IM Wang's 4th CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 for his first GM norm

IM Alexander Katz (New Jersey, FIDE 2419, USCF 2536)

• Wins over GMs Kacheishvili, Belous, Jayaram, Kudrin, Jayaram, Ivanov, Smith
• MIT student
• Represented New Jersey at the US Chess Denker Tournament of High School Champions
• 2014 North American Youth U18 Champion
• This is IM Katz's 2nd CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 for his first GM norm

IM Brandon Jacobson (New Jersey, FIDE 2414, USCF 2536)

• Wins over GM Hess, Khacheishvili, Khamrakulov, Gorovets, Nestorovic, Rohde, Boros
• Top rated 14 year old in the US, #2 quick rating under age 16 in the US, #5 rated player under 16 in North and South America
• 2016 US Chess Barber K-8 National Champion
• Silver Medal, 2017 North American Youth U16 Championship (FM title)
• Bronze Medal, 2014 North American Youth U12 Championship (CM Title)
• Earned his first IM norm at Summer 2018 CCCSA IM Norm Invitational
• Earned all 3 IM norms in one month (June 2018)
• This is IM Jacobson's 5th CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 for his first GM norm

IM Joel Banawa (New York, FIDE 2388, USCF 2493)

• Wins over GMs Sevian, Chirila, Jayaram, Leon Hoyos, Molner, Ruifeng Li, Sevillano
• Two time Southern California State Champion and 2014 Arizona State Champion
• This is IM Banawa's 2nd CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 for his first GM norm

IM-elect Tianqi Wang (Charlotte, North Carolina, FIDE 2354, USCF 2442)

• CCCSA Instructor, CCCSA Interview
• Wins over GMs Durarbayli, Benjamin, Kostronias, Barbosa, Shabalov, Perelshteyn
• 4th highest rated player in North Carolina
• Two time North Carolina State Champion
• Represented North Carolina at US Chess Denker Tournament of High School Champions
• Former member, Carolina Cobras US Chess League Team
• Has won every major tournament in North Carolina, including the NC Open, NC Closed, NC K-12 Scholastic Championships
• 3 IM norms, needs 2400 rating for IM title
• Earned his first and third IM norms at CCCSA Norm Invitationals
• This is NM Wang's 6th CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 for his first GM norm or 4.5/9 for his fourth IM norm

IM Section (IM norm = 6.5/9), Avg Rating 2311 FIDE, 2397 USCF

IM Titas Stremavicius (Lithuania, FIDE 2465, USCF 2508)

• Wins over GMs Smirin, Sulskis, Arribas Lopez, Khachiyan, Kadric, Pichot
• Fourth highest rated player in Lithuania
• Represented Lithuania at the 2018 Chess Olympiad, where he earned his second GM norm
• UT Dallas chess team member, represented UT Dallas at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship and Texas Collegiate SuperFinal
• Earned 4 IM norms in 4 different countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Spain, and France
• This is IM Stremavicius' 3rd CCCSA Norm Invitational

IM Rohan Ahuja (India, FIDE 2388, USCF 2454)

• Wins over GMs Xu Jun, Semcesen, Batsiashvili, Kraai, Pain
• 95th highest rated player in India
• Three time Goa state champion (India)
• Three time bronze medalist at the FIDE Continental ASEAN Youth Championships
• UMBC chess team member, represented UMBC at the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championship
• This is IM Ahuja's 2nd CCCSA Norm Invitational

IM Roberto Martin del Campo (Mexico, FIDE 2309, USCF 2412)

• CCCSA Interview
• Wins over GMs Becerra, Kudrin, Adly, Sisniega, Kudrin, Browne, Agdestein, Zapata, Dmitry Gurevich
• Two draws with former World Champion GM Vishy Anand from the 1985 and 1987 FIDE World U20 Championships
• Represented Mexico at 3 Olympiads, earning a Gold Medal in 1990
• This is IM Del Campo's 7th CCCSA Norm Invitational

IM-elect Gauri Shankar (India, FIDE 2364, USCF 2439)

• CCCSA Interview
• Wins over GMs Lenderman, Barbosa, Amanov, Mitkov, Dmitry Gurevich
• Eighth highest rated player in Illinois
• 2000 Indian Under 7 National Champion
• Three-time British Junior Champion
• 2003 US K-12 G/10 and G/15 National Champion
• 2006 US Junior Open National Champion
• Earned 5 IM norms, the last one from the Spring 2017 CCCSA GM Norm Invitational
• This is FM Shankar's 8th CCCSA Norm Invitational (he has played every invitational), and he will need 6.5/9 to earn his 6th IM norm

FM Andy Huang (Virginia, FIDE 2320, USCF 2347)

• Wins over IMs Niemann, Enkhbat, Meyer, Santarius, Bonin
• Fifth highest rated 14 year old in the US
• 2018 US Chess Barber K-8 National Champion
• Represented USA at the World Youth Championship
• Attended CCCSA's 2017 Elite Chess Camp
• This is FM Huang's 1st CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 to earn his 1st IM norm

NM Benjamin Moon (Georgia, FIDE 2277, USCF 2412)

• CCCSA Interview
• Wins over GMs Ipatov and Zapata, IMs Patel, Del Campo, Young, Cox, Ghatti
• US Chess Senior Master, Life Master, Qualifies for FIDE Master title
• Board 1, 2018 US Amateur Team National Champions
• Former US Chess K-3 and K-6 Champion
• Represented Georgia at the US Chess Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions
• Fourth highest rated player in Georgia
• #41 player under 21 in the US
• This is NM Moon's 5th CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 to earn his 1st IM norm

FM Nikhil Kumar (Florida, FIDE 2277, USCF 2356)

• CCCSA Interview
• Wins over GMs Preotu, Paragua, Arribas Lopez, Sambuev, Glek, Rohde
• #4 fourteen year old in the US
• 2016 FIDE World Cadet U12 Chess Champion
• 1 IM norm
• This is FM Kumar's 2nd CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 to earn his 2nd IM norm

FM Aaron Jacobson (New York, FIDE 2256, USCF 2359)

• Wins over GMs Ringoir, Kacheishvili, Khamrakulov, Rohde, Smith
• #7 Quick rating under 21 in the US
• USCF Original Life Master and Senior Master (2400+), FIDE Master
• This is FM Jacobson's 2nd CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 to earn his 1st IM norm

FM Sahil Sinha (Virginia, FIDE 2233, USCF 2343)

• Wins over IMs Balakrishnan, Enkhbat, Kavutskiy, Brodsky, Young, Tate
• #16 eighteen year old in the US
• This is FM Sinha's 3rd CCCSA Norm Invitational, and he will need 6.5/9 to earn his 1st IM norm

FM Aravind Kumar (New Jersey, FIDE 2217, USCF 2342)

• Wins over IMs Ippolito, Sturt, Jacobson, Brodsky, Yedidia, Coleman, Sarkar, Ruiz, Niemann, Larson, Costigan, Vovsha
• #11 sixteen year old in the US
• Represented USA at the World Youth Championship
• Gold medal, 2011 North American Youth U10 Championship (CM title)
• Gold medal, 2012 Pan-American Youth U10 Championship (FM title)

We hope that you come by the Charlotte Chess Center to watch the event!  Daily spectator passes are $10, but all CCCSA members can come for free!