Round 9 results:

FM Felecan - IM Vishnuvardhan: 1/2 - 1/2

FM Dean - FM Shankar: 1/2 - 1/2

Flaga - IM Pasalic: 0 - 1

IM Young - FM Morales: 0 - 1

Rosen - FM Monokroussos: 1/2 - 1/2

Final Standings:

1st - FM Felecan - 7/9 (IM norm scored)

2nd - IM Pasalic - 6.5/9

3rd - FM Morales - 5.5/9

4th - 5th - IM Young, IM Vishnvuardhan - 5/9

6th - FM Shankar - 4.5/9

7th - 8th - FM Monokrossous, Rosen - 4/9

9th - FM Dean - 2.5/9

10th - Flaga - 1/9

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer
North American Chess Association

With a final round draw in his game with IM Vishnuvardhan, FM Florin Felecan has secured another IM norm.

Florin scored an IM norm at the 20th NA FIDE Invitational in April and now has scored his second IM norm at this event.

Florin believes he scored an IM norm in Romania which we are currently attempting to track down. If indeed it was a norm gained, then Florin will have his 3 required norms and his rating will go over the 2400 mark after this tournament is submitted and rated for the September rating list. If the norm from Romania is not valid then Florin will need to go after another norm and he could be the 3rd participant in this tournament series to complete all 3 norms, with IM Mehmed Pasalic being the first, and IM Marc T. Arnold as being the second.

Next week we will have a games analysis by Florin made available here along with a short video interview with him.

Once the last two games are completed here we will update with final standings.

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer
North American Chess Association

FM Felecan continues his pace towards his IM norm with a draw over FM Shankar.

Round 8 results:

IM Pasalic - FM Dean: 1 - 0
IM Vishnuvardhan - Rosen: 1/2 - 1/2
FM Morales - Flaga: 1/2 -1/2
FM Shankar - FM Felecan: 1/2 - 1/2
FM Monokroussos - IM Young: 1/2 - 1/2

Standings after 8 rounds:

1st - FM Felecan - 6.5/8

2nd - IM Pasalic - 5.5/8

3rd - IM Young - 5/8

4th - 5th - IM Vishnuvardhan, FM Morales - 4.5/8

6th - 8th - FM Monokroussos, FM Shankar, Rosen - 3.5/8

9th - FM Dean - 2/8

10th - Flaga - 1/8

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer
North American Chess Association

FM Felecan keeps pace with his norm securing a draw against IM Pasalic. Florin needs 1 point from 2 games to secure his IM norm.

Round 7 results:

FM Felecan - IM Pasalic: 1/2 - 1/2
IM Vishnuvardhan - FM Shankar: 1/2 - 1/2
Flaga - FM Monokroussos: 0 - 1
IM Young - Rosen: 1/2 - 1/2
FM Dean - FM Morales: 0 - 1

Standings after 7 rounds

1st - FM Felecan - 6/7

2nd - 3rd - IM Pasalic, IM Young - 4.5/7

4th -5th - IM Vishnuvardhan, FM Morales - 4/7

6th - 8th - FM Monokroussos, FM Shankar, Rosen - 3/7

9th - FM Dean - 2/7

10th - Flaga - .5/7

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
North American Chess Association
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer

Round 6 was a must win situation for FM Morales in his game against FM Felecan. Morales needed to win all of his 4 remaining games to maintain the norm hunt but it was not meant to be so as FM Felecan bested him.

FM Felecan now needs 1.5/3 to earn his IM norm. He still has to face IM Pasalic, FM Shankar, and IM Vishnuvardhan.

Round 6 results:

FM Morales - FM Felecan : 0 - 1
IM Pasalic - FM Shankar: 1/2 - 1/2
Rosen - Flaga: 1 - 0
FM Monokroussos - FM Dean: 1/2 - 1/2
IM Young - IM Vishnuvardhan: 1/2 - 1/2

Standings after 6 rounds:

1st place - FM Felecan - 5.5/6

2nd - 3rd - IM Young, IM Pasalic - 4/6

4th - IM Vishnuvardhan - 3.5/6

5th - FM Morales - 3/6

6th - 7th - FM Shankar, Rosen - 2.5/6

8th - 9th - FM Monokroussos, FM Dean - 2/6

10th place - Flaga - .5/6

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
North American Chess Association
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer

Round 5 brought about a more clear picture for those two players in the norm hunt. FM Felecan continued his stride towards his IM norm while FM Morales stumbled with a loss and makes his norm chances more difficult.

Round 5 Results

IM Pasalic - IM Vishnuvardhan: 1/2 - 1/2
Flaga - IM Young: 0 - 1
FM Dean - Rosen: 1/2 - 1/2
FM Shankar - FM Morales: 1 - 0
FM Felecan - FM Monokroussos: 1 - 0

Standings after 5 rounds

1st - FM Felecan - 4.5/5 (needs 2.5/4 for IM norm)

2nd - 3rd - IM Pasalic, IM Young - 3.5/5

4th - 5th - IM Vishnuvardhan, FM Morales - 3/5 (FM Morales needs 4/4 for his IM norm)

6th - FM Shankar - 2/5

7th - 9th - FM Monokroussos, FM Dean, Rosen - 1.5/5

10th - Flaga - .5/5

Next round is 6:30pm Tuesday.

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
North American Chess Association
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer

The weekend sprint is completed now and we have two players in the hunt for their norms, FM’s Felecan and Morales.

Rd 4 results:

IM Young - FM Dean : 1/2 - 1/2
IM Vishnuvardhan - Flaga: 1 - 0
FM Monokroussos - FM Shankar: 1/2 - 1/2
FM Morales - IM Pasalic: 0 - 1
Rosen - FM Felecan: 0 - 1

Standings after 4 rounds:

1st - FM Felecan - 3.5/4 (needs 3.5/5 for IM norm)

2nd - 3rd - IM Pasalic, FM Morales - 3/4 (FM Morales needs 4/5 for IM norm)

4th - 5th - IM Young, IM Vishnuvardhan - 2.5/4

6th - 7th - FM Monokroussos, FM Shankar - 1.5/4

8th - 9th - FM Dean, Rosen - 1/4

10th - Flaga - .5/4

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
North American Chess Association
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer

It was a swashbuckling round 3 in all but 1 game with the most swashbuckling coming from Felecan - Young where Felecan sacrificed his queen rook to trap the enemy queen and gain counterplay but after tactical shots they wound down to a draw.

Round 3 Results:

IM Pasalic - FM Monokroussos: 1/2 - 1/2
FM Shankar - Rosen: 0 - 1
FM Morales - IM Vishnvuardhan: 1 - 0
FM Felecan - IM Young: 1/2 - 1/2
FM Dean - Flaga: 1/2 - 1/2

Standings after 3 rounds:

1st - FM Morales: 3/3

2nd - FM Felecan: 2.5/3

3rd - 4th: IM Pasalic, IM Young: 2/3

5th: IM Vishnuvardhan: 1.5/3

6th - 8th: FM Monokroussos, FM Shankar, Rosen: 1/3

9th - 10th: FM Dean, Flaga: .5/3

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
North American Chess Association
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer

The 21st NA FIDE Invitational kicked off at 1pm Chicago time on Saturday June 20, 2009.

Once again we are being hosted by the Holiday Inn North Shore Hotel in Skokie, IL, the future site to the 2010 World Amateur and World School Team Chess Championships .

Our line up this month includes:

• IM Mehmed Pasalic
• IM Angelo Young
• IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan
• FM Florin Felecan (going for this 3rd and final norm)
• FM Dennis Monokroussos
• FM Gauri Shankar
• FM Sergio Morales
• FM Jim Dean
• Eric Rosen (an Illinois Chess Association Warren Junior Chess Scholar)
• Kris Flaga

Here are the results from Rounds 1 and 2:

Rd 1

Monokroussos - Vishnuvardhan: 1/2 - 1/2
Morales - Rosen: 1 - 0
Felecan - Dean: 1 - 0
Shankar - Flaga: 1 - 0
Pasalic - Young: 1/2 - 1/2

Rd 2

Vishnuvardhan - Dean: 1 - 0
Young - Shankar: 1 - 0
Rosen - Pasalic: 0 - 1
Monokroussos - Morales - 0 - 1
Flaga - Felecan: 0 - 1

Standings after 2 rounds:

1st - 2nd: FM Felecan, FM Morales (2/2)

3rd - 5th: IM Pasalic, IM Young, IM Vishnuvardhan (1.5/2)

6th: FM Shankar (1/2)

7th: FM Monokroussos (.5/2)

8th - 10th: FM Dean, Rosen, Flaga (0/2)

We are working on getting the MonRoi broadcast functional. The players are recording their games on their PCM’s while we work out some issues with a new laptop I have

The next round is 1pm on Sunday. Stop by the hotel for you local viewers and watch the games in the flesh!

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
North American Chess Association
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer

Today GM Nikola Mitkov (MKD - 2530) confirmed his partcipation.

To look at the full list of participants visit http://www.nachess.org/fide-swiss

Good Chess to All,

Sevan A. Muradian
North American Chess Association
FIDE Arbiter and International Organizer