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Hikaru Nakamura
earns his final
Grandmaster norm
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(February 2003)
Fifteen year old IM Hikaru Nakamura of White Plains, NY has just
earned his final Grandmaster norm in the Bermuda International GM-B tournament, January 25 - February 5, 2003.
Subject to FIDE confirmation of the title, at 15 years, 58 days, Hikaru is the youngest American Grandmaster ever, eclipsing Bobby Fischer's 1958 record of 15 years, 185 days.*
Nakamura scored 7.5-3.5 to finish in clear
Second place in the 12 player Round Robin.
The tournament was won by GM Daniel Fridman(LAT-2572) with an 8-3 score.
Nakamura(USA-2520) faced a Category X field (average FIDE rating over 2475).
He finished strong by scoring 3.5-.5 in his last four games, defeating American IMs William Paschall(USA-2444) and Michael Mulyar(USA-2446) in the final two rounds.
Hikaru had the most wins in the tournament, with six wins, three draws, two losses.
Games. Hikaru says his best game was his third round win against Javier Moreno Carnero(ESP-2508).
Play that game over
here.
His last round game against IM Michael Mulyar was also interesting, featuring two sacrifices.
Play that game over
here, then see Robert Byrne's analysis in the NY Times.
For all the results and games, visit the Bermuda International website.
See this interview with Hikaru in the Journal News.
* Bobby Fischer was born March 9, 1943 and was made a Grandmaster at the Portoroz Interzonal in September 1958. Hikaru Nakamura was born December 9, 1987.
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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 27 games (recently changed from 24)
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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