Azarov wins Washington, Sevian scores norm

Samuel Sevian is trying to become the first US player to become a grandmaster before fourteen

For 13-year-old Sevian, it would bring him just a breath away from becoming the youngest US player gain the grandmaster title (he would still need to make the rating requirement), whereas for 15-year-old Chandra, he would become the poster boy of Obama's mantra "Yes, you can", as he too became a grandmaster when just five years ago he had been rated just over... 1500 Elo!

15-year-old Akshat Chandra is only one norm away from the GM title, yet five years ago
was rated just over 1500 Elo

The A section tournament had a strong field with a median rating of 2400 with 53 players in it, and was won by GM Sergei Azarov (BLR) with a score of 7.0/9 who took home the $4000 first place prize. A full point behind the winner, six players tied for second with 6.0/9: GM Yaroslav Zherebukh, GM Ioan Cristian Chirila, IM Akshat Chandra, IM Samuel Sevian, IM Levan Bregadze, and IM Justin Sarkar.

IM Jeffery Xiong finished with 5.5/9

Both IM Samuel Sevian and IM Akshat Chandra raced to their dreams and as fate would have it, the two met in the last round with a draw being sufficient for Sevian for the norm, while Chandra, playing black, needed a win as the average rating of his opponents was two Elo short.

Those future GMs start young. Very young.

Their encounter ended in a draw and Sevian scored a vital third norm, needing only to reach 2500 Elo to secure the title. For Chandra, it means he will need to try again, despite an ever-so-close result.

The dramatic last round game in which an early shake of the hands was out of the question

Final standings "A" Section

To their credit, the organizers kept a steady flow of results, games and pictures at both their website and Facebook page. They are to be commended.

Pictures from the official Facebook page

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs to replay the games in PGN. You can also download our free Playchess client, which will in addition give you immediate access to the chess server Playchess.com.