Starting Off the Summer Right: Part One

 

Starting Off the Summer Right

I recently played in the CCCSA Summer 2018 IM Norm Invitational, organized by the Charlotte Chess Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the last two years especially, due to the influx of young players getting norms at these tournaments, they've gotten more well-known.

Of course, I wanted to get a norm, but I didn't really have any expectations. I hadn't studied for at least two months, and though I had a fantastic performance at my most recent tournament, that was two months ago too. Mostly, I was hoping not to drop any rating points and shake off my rust.

Norms

For those of you who don't know what norms are, they're needed to get the IM and GM titles. Three IM norms and a rating of at least 2400 FIDE are needed for the IM title, and three GM norms and a rating of at least 2500 FIDE are needed for the GM title. But let's just focus on the IM norm, because I'm not good enough for a GM norm yet . 

This stuff can get pretty complicated! In order to get an IM norm, specific requirements have to be met, including that the rating average of one's opponents needs to be at least 2250 FIDE (which equals to around 2350 USCF), and one must have a performance rating of at least 2450 FIDE. (The rest of the requirements are here if anyone is interested). It's difficult to get a norm in a regular open tournament, so norm invitationals are ideal for norm-seekers. Norm invitationals meet all the requirements, and all one has to do is just achieve the performance rating to norm. In most norm invitationals, 6.5/9 is needed for a norm.  

Okay, now that all the background material is covered, on to the good stuff!  

Carissa Yip (W) vs Ali Morshedi (B)

The opening went quite well for me, but I faltered slightly in the middlegame, allowing my opponent to make a comeback. 

 

It's an interesting position here; I'm up a pawn but my king is fairly weak. Here, I'm threatening mate with Rb8 but Black's rook is also hanging. I believed myself to be much better, thinking Qg6 is the only move for black which would force an exchange of queens. Then, I could go into a rook endgame up a pawn and a clear route to victory. However, both my opponent and I missed a defense that he had. Try to find it; all solutions are at the bottom of the article.

Solution
Qg5! After Kf1, Rd2 comes back to d8 to protect the back rank. It's objectively equal, though White plays for a slight advantage. 

About Carissa

In 2015, Ms. Yip became the youngest American female Chess master in history.  Yip has been on a record-shattering pace ever since she learned how to play the game from her father at age 6. Three years later, at age 9, she became the youngest ever to reach the title of Expert. Now 14 years old, she is one of the strongest junior Chess players and recently accepted an invitation to the U.S. Junior Girls’ Championship in St. Louis.