The 6th North American FIDE Invitational concludes: Robson first, Vigorito second
This tournament concluded Saturday night in the "second city" - Chicago - and thanks to Ray Robson's round 8 upset of Dave Vigorito (or was it an upset?) he leapfrogged past him into first place. Even more importantly, he achieved his first IM norm - congratulations!
Vigorito had an excellent tournament as well, and it could have been better, as he missed some opportunities against Mokriak in round 1 and settled for a known theoretical draw, with White, against IM Young in the last round. Even so, he added a healthy number of points to his FIDE rating, played well, and took second by a clear point. So congratulations to him as well.
FM Mehmed Pasalic finished strongly, defeating IM Muhammad in round 8 and FM Chow in the final round. His score of 5.5/9 wasn't enough for a norm, but it was a nice performance overall, good enough for clear third ahead of two IMs.
Before presenting the full list of results, a special mention should go to WIM Ludmila Mokriak. She started the tournament strongly, with draws against IMs Vigorito and Young. Having faced down most of her (ostensibly) toughest opposition, she proceeded to lose six games in a row! Naturally, then, one would expect her to be mincemeat in the final round for Robson, unless they agreed to a quick draw to end the tournament. Nothing of the sort, however: Mokriak had Robson on the ropes and was winning the rook ending outright. Unfortunately, her 58th move allowed him to draw, but even so: she drew with three of the top 5 (according to rating) players! Some players are like that: they rise - or sink - to the level of their opposition. Maybe if she does a better job of handling the more ordinary opponents next time, she'll end the event with a norm. Special mention to Dale Haessel too, who scored 4/9 despite having the lowest rating.
Final Standings:
1. Robson 7 (out of 9)
2. Vigorito 6.5
3. Pasalic 5.5
4. Andrews 5
5-8. Muhammad, Young, Tsyganov, Haessel 4
9. Chow 3.5
10. Mokriak 1.5
Website here.
Vigorito had an excellent tournament as well, and it could have been better, as he missed some opportunities against Mokriak in round 1 and settled for a known theoretical draw, with White, against IM Young in the last round. Even so, he added a healthy number of points to his FIDE rating, played well, and took second by a clear point. So congratulations to him as well.
FM Mehmed Pasalic finished strongly, defeating IM Muhammad in round 8 and FM Chow in the final round. His score of 5.5/9 wasn't enough for a norm, but it was a nice performance overall, good enough for clear third ahead of two IMs.
Before presenting the full list of results, a special mention should go to WIM Ludmila Mokriak. She started the tournament strongly, with draws against IMs Vigorito and Young. Having faced down most of her (ostensibly) toughest opposition, she proceeded to lose six games in a row! Naturally, then, one would expect her to be mincemeat in the final round for Robson, unless they agreed to a quick draw to end the tournament. Nothing of the sort, however: Mokriak had Robson on the ropes and was winning the rook ending outright. Unfortunately, her 58th move allowed him to draw, but even so: she drew with three of the top 5 (according to rating) players! Some players are like that: they rise - or sink - to the level of their opposition. Maybe if she does a better job of handling the more ordinary opponents next time, she'll end the event with a norm. Special mention to Dale Haessel too, who scored 4/9 despite having the lowest rating.
Final Standings:
1. Robson 7 (out of 9)
2. Vigorito 6.5
3. Pasalic 5.5
4. Andrews 5
5-8. Muhammad, Young, Tsyganov, Haessel 4
9. Chow 3.5
10. Mokriak 1.5
Website here.
Related Posts (on one page):
- The 6th North American FIDE Invitational concludes: Robson first, Vigorito second
- A ChessBase report on the 6th North American FIDE Invitational
- Yet another ongoing event: the 6th North American FIDE Invitational
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Sunday November 4, 2007 at 1:01am