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Hikaru Nakamura
earns his first
Grandmaster norm
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(January 2002)
Fourteen year old IM Hikaru Nakamura has just
earned a Grandmaster norm in the Bermuda International "GM-A" tournament, January 21-30, 2002.
Hikaru qualified by scoring 6-3 against a Category 10 field (average FIDE rating 2500), tying for first place.
The players he faced in the 9-player round-robin included five Grandmasters and
four International Masters. His performance rating for the event was 2633. Hikaru started out at a blistering pace,
defeating three Grandmasters in the first 3 rounds, and leading the field with a score of 5-1
by the end of round 6.
Hikaru played "flat out" throughout the tournament, and was never afraid to mix it up.
See the results and games here.
Hikaru's first round win against GM Alexandre Lesiege is an especially fine game.
See that game in
Robert Byrne's Chess column at the New York Times website.
Hikaru also competed in the traditional blitz tournament, finishing clear second ahead of a number of Grandmasters.
Never weary, Hikaru then competed in the Bermuda Open,
winning an exciting game against "The Week in Chess" reporter John Fernandez. See the annotations in
this report - the move 16.Rxf7!! is amazing.
In the last round, Hikaru was on Board 1,
but lost to Swedish IM Emannuel Berg (2500) in a hard-fought struggle
which was the last game to finish in the whole tournament.
Asuka Nakamura joined his brother in the Bermuda Open,
distinguishing himself by defeating his first Grandmaster,
Dennis De Vreugt of the Netherlands, and winning the prize for Best Untitled Player -
an all-expenses-paid trip to next year's tournament.
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About the GM Norm. To win the title of Grandmaster, you must achieve results at officially
determined levels in FIDE-sanctioned tournaments.
FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs)
is the governing body of world chess,
and the sole recognized agent for the conferring of International chess titles.
In each FIDE tournament, scoring standards are set for IM (International Master) and
GM (Grandmaster) based on the tournament "Category",
which in turn is based on the
average FIDE rating of the opponents faced.
A player who meets the standard is said to have earned a "norm" for that title.
The title is conferred upon obtaining two or more norms in tournaments totaling 24 games,
and reaching a certain ratings level (2400 for IM and 2500 for GM). See a complete description of title regulations here.
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Articles about Hikaru.
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