The norm fever pitch is running high. 6 players are still mathematically in the norm chase. Because of this, every game is intense and wild.

Yang 0-1 Ippolito (Yang lost for the first time yesterday. But he is still on pace on both IM and GM norm. Ippolito needs a victory today to give himself a real chance at the GM norm. The game is wild and Yang is down to 14 minutes while Ippolito has about an hour. Yang is now down to a minute and a half while Ippolito has about 3o minutes left. It did not work out for Yang this game. Now Ippolito is at +2 and he needs +3 for his GM norm. Yang is back to even score but he is still on pace for IM norm.)

Antal 1/2 Papp (Teamates and roommates. Both are from Hungary. Both are +1. Both need this win. It’s an all out war and it looks like it on the board. Papp has 3 pawns for a piece and the game is headed to a wild endgame. They fought hard but at the end, they drew. This makes both of their effort to earn a GM norm more challenging now.)

Kuljasevic 0-1 Hansen (Kuljasevic needs to win all 4 games for his final GM norm. Hansen needs a win to be back in contention for his final IM norm. Kuljasevic miscalculated one of the lines and got in trouble. Hansen found the right continuation to score a full point. He is now back in the hunt for his IM title.)

Krush – Becerra (Even though Krush is out of the GM norm hunt, she is still playing with the same intensity. Even though Becerra is leading the field by a full point, he also came to fight today. A fascinating game.)

Finegold 1/2 Kraai (The wildest game of the day between 2 GMs. You must check out this game. I do not think that this line is very good for Black but maybe Kraai has something up his sleeves. Things are getting very interesting. Kraai still has a hard time getting his pieces out and coordinated for counterplay but he is defending vigorously. Draw agreed.)

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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