NM Alisa Melekhina, former winner of the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls, has just earned her 1st IM norm in Chicago.
With a final round draw against FM Chow, Alisa has secured her first IM norm. Alisa gets to walk away with 3 different norms and just under 50 FIDE rating points.
Congrats to Alisa for a well played tournament. She came in as the 3rd lowest seed but walked away as one of the real winners of this event.
I was very impressed with her maturity both on and off of the board. She exhibited qualities that all young chess players should emulate – Winning with Dignity and Losing with Grace (of course she didn’t lose any games!).
Another aspect that I find important is the presence of a parent or coach to give mental support to their children and/or students. Alisa’s father was here through all 9 rounds offering that support. He’s also an interesting and nice individual to speak with. You could see proud papa’s smile from across the room, round to round.
Alisa will be competing in a science and engineering competition in May so she won’t be able to make it to the 11th North American FIDE Invitational but we hope she’ll be back over the summer to continue her quest for her norms.
Report by Sevan Muradian
Felicitations!
This is an extraordinary achievement.
Congratulations to Alisa! Well done!
This is not an ordinary achievement. Well done!
Congratulations Alisa!
I knew you will achieve it! You are a very polite and kind girl and stubborn fighter in the same time!
I think you are a real role model for all our chess girls.
Congratulations to Alex as well!
It is a hard burden to be a father and a coach in the same time!