Shmelov gains GM norm

On 01/08 George Mirijanian reports on: http://masschess.org/about/chess_news.aspx 01/8/2011:
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Shmelov gains GM norm at Berkeley International; ties for 1st
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Under 2500 USCF senior life master Denys Shmelov gained a grandmaster norm at the Berkeley International Tournament, held January 2-8 at the Berkeley Chess School in Berkeley, California.

The 24-year-old Pepperell, Mass. resident and 2008 Massachusetts state champion tallied 6.5-3.5 and tied for 1st Under 2500 in a field of 58 players. Among his victories were wins against IMs Robert Ris of the Netherlands and Sam Collins of Ireland, as well as GM Dejan Bojkov of Bulgaria. He drew GM Robert Hess of New York before defeating GM Sergey Erenburg of Israel in the penultimate round. In the final round, he faced tournament leader GM Loek van Wely of the Netherlands and lost. Van Wely finished first with a 8-2 score, while Erenburg took second place with a 7.5-2.5 tally. Third place with a 7-3 performance went to GM Magesh Panchanathan of India.

Also scoring 6.5-3.5 and tying for 1st Under 2500 was IM Sam Shankland, a student at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. and a key member of the champion 2010 U.S. Chess League New England Nor''Easters team, who clinched his final GM norm.

GM Josh Friedel, who was born and raised in Goffstown, New Hampshire also tallied 6.5-3.5 but finished out of the prize money.

The tournament was organized by national master Arun Sharma and IM David Pruess

George Mirijanian
MACA President

Congratulations Denys!!!
Mike Griffin

Photo credit: Anthony Cortizas Jr.