My Road to IM: My Second IM Norm!
Hi ChessKids! I am back to share the news of achieving my second IM norm! For the IM title, you need a 2400 FIDE rating and three IM norms, which are three brilliant tournaments in which you played with a 2450+ performance rating (with some other requirements, like having five titled players in that tournament, a 2230 average field, etc.) I earned my second IM norm in Slovenia at the Hit-A-Open tournament between September 16-22, 2022.Game Recap
Round 1: Vasja Acimovic (2237) vs. FM Shreyas Royal (2412)
In the first round, I was playing a strong opponent. I decided to play a slightly unusual line in the Nimzo-Indian with the idea of succeeding in the light-squared strategy. I made some brilliant positional decisions to achieve this:
How can I exchange off the light-squared bishops as black now?
h5! with the idea of h4 and Bf5, if he plays h4 himself he has created a huge weakness
I succeeded in the light-squared strategy, and my opponent had been completely outplayed (check move 29 for black in the game below to see total domination). However, I started to slip up in time trouble, but I always had the tactics and calculated more precisely in the end and managed to beat him.
End of Round 1: 1/1
Round 2: FM Shreyas Royal (2412) vs. GM Jesper Sondergaard Thybo (2516)
In this round, I was playing a strong GM from Denmark with a peak rating of 2604! He decided to play the King's Indian Defense, but I had surprised him very early. I went for an interesting but slightly premature flank attack, so he had to act energetically and accurately to equalize.
He failed to do so, and soon, I had an overwhelming advantage in which I slowly improved on both sides of the board since he was paralyzed. With a bit of calculation, in the end, I had scored my second-highest rated win so far! A brilliant start to the tournament, but I had to keep it up…
End of Round 2: 2/2
Round 3: IM Vignir Vatnar Stefansson (2452) vs. FM Shreyas Royal (2412)
I am now playing an Icelandic IM who was rated 2500 not so long ago. He decided to play a sharp line in the Queen's Gambit Declined; I was a pawn down but had good compensation. I soon landed myself into an opposite-color bishop endgame which I was trying to hold. He was better but failed to be precise, and I held a draw.
End of Round 3: 2.5/3
Round 4: FM Shreyas Royal (2412) vs. GM Francesco Sonis (2542)
My opponent played the Queen's Indian Defense, and it got into a very fascinating type of position. It was a deadlock where both of us had to show our patience by maneuvering slowly. When the time was right, I broke the deadlock with a favorable bishop exchange and opened the position to cause mass complications.
I had a winning position, but in time trouble, I could not hammer the nail in the coffin, and it went into a draw. I was kind of annoyed for messing up some chances, but still felt it was a very well-played game by me.
I hope you enjoyed reading the first part of this tournament, and stay tuned for part 2!