2016 Saint Louis Invitational

Saint Louis Invitational - Final Round Recap

The 2016 Saint Louis Invitational ended with the same fighting chess seen throughout the whole tournament. The final round found FM Gauri Shankar needing a win to secure another IM norm as he faced off against FM Kostya Kavutskiy. As for the grandmaster norm tournament, IM Steven Zierk wanted to avenge his eighth round loss and pull even with IM Akshat Chandra for a share of first place.

IM Zierk played with the White pieces against GM Ben Finegold in a mainline Caro-Kann. Pressing for an advantage, Zierk sacrificed on h6 cracking open black’s kingside.

Saint Louis Invitational - Round 8 Recap

As the 2016 Saint Louis Invitational winds to a close, the players with hopes of gaining their norms found difficulty in Round 8. Three players still had a chance to earn GM norms going into the round. IM Steven Zierk had the Black pieces against IM Ruifeng Li and needed to win to keep his chances alive.

Saint Louis Invitational - Round 5 Recap

The 2016 Saint Louis Invitational, featuring both a GM and IM norm 10-player round robin, is more than halfway finished. Norm seekers in both sections have traded blows with their opponents and resulted in a very tight standings list. Each field’s norm requirement sits at 6.5 total points and still a few have the chance, if they finish well, to earn their norm.

Saint Louis Invitational - Round 7 Recap

After round seven of the 2016 Saint Louis Invitational, three players are still in contention to earn a GM norm. IM Irene Sukandar, IM Akshat Chandra, and IM Steven Zierk all stand at 4.5 points with two rounds to go. That means each needs to win their final two games to achieve the norm. Round 7 saw IM Sukandar play against IM Zierk in a tactical battle. Sukandar with the white pieces was able to covert an exchange French after Zierk overestimated the strength of an advanced d-pawn.

Results

2016 Saint Louis Invitational GM Norm Tournament

# Name/Rtng/ID Rd 1 Rd 2 Rd 3 Rd 4 Rd 5 Rd 6 Rd 7 Rd 8 Rd 9
1 IM RUIFENG LI B 2 W 8 B 4 W 7 B 5 W 9 B 6 W 3 B 10
 

Steven Zierk

Title: 
International Master
Rating: 
2488
Federation: 
United States of America
Age: 
22
Status: 
Accepted
Bio: 

Steven Zierk is a 22 year old International Master from California. He was the 2010 World Under 18 Chess Champion. He currently has two norms and is seeking the GM title at the Saint Louis GM Invitational.

Aman Hambleton

Title: 
International Master
Rating: 
2442
Federation: 
Canada
Age: 
23
Status: 
Accepted
Bio: 

 

Aman is an International Master currently living in Montreal, Canada where he is a part-time coach and streamer at www.twitch.tv/chessbrah. He started playing chess at a very young age. He made his mark on the International Chess Scene in 2012 when he gained more than 250 ELO in less than a year, and achieved his International Master title in 2013. He was a member of Canada’s Olympic team in 2014 and is actively traveling to compete for the GM title.
Aman Hambleton is seeking his second GM norm.

Ashwin Jayaram

Title: 
Grandmaster
Rating: 
2460
Federation: 
India
Age: 
25
Status: 
Accepted
Bio: 

Ashwin Jayaram is a grandmaster from Bangalore, India. He achieved his Masters in Finance in Webster University and will be pursuing an MBA in June.

Seth Homa

Title: 
FIDE Master
Rating: 
2325
Federation: 
United States of America
Age: 
28
Status: 
Accepted
Bio: 

Seth Homa is a FM and chess professional born and raised in Michigan. Seth has 2 IM norms (Golden State Open 2013 and St Louis Invitational 2014).

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