Motylev and Cheparinov, two of our coaches, managed to qualify for the World Cup through the European Hybrid tournament. Today there was a rapid tournament to decide the championship. It is my understanding that this will not affect the seeding at the World Cup, which is done by the same system as tennis, although we do not have the big TV-sponsors to please in chess, who lose money if the stars are knocked out early…
Brunello and Salgado failed to qualify, but fought hard.
Tomorrow Manish and Shahil will play each other in the last round of a GM-tournament in Hungary. Neither can make the IM-norm, which is 5.5 points. The tournament has confirmed what we already knew. Both players belong and will make the leap in to titled players in the near future. And there is still a lot to learn!
Doug Eckhart is playing in the IM-norm tournament in Charlotte. It is double rounds and generally unfair to senior players. Still, Doug is overperforming slightly with 2.5/6 and a slight advantage in the 7th round, where I am writing this.
Christopher Yoo is doing excellently in the GM-section of the same tournament. I also think he has a slight advantage today and hopefully he can add to his 4.5/6. Updated: 5.5/7. Seems 1/2 in the last two games will be enough for the GM-norm.