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SAINT LOUIS (October 31, 2012) -- Grandmaster Wesley So of the Philippines and Grandmaster Georg Meier of Germany headline the strongest field in the history of the Thanksgiving Open, scheduled to be held at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis November 23-25. This FIDE-rated event features a guaranteed prize fund of more than $10,000.
The featured titled players that have committed as of October 31 include:
- GM Wesley So
- GM Georg Meier
- GM Anatoly Bykhovsky
- GM Fidel Corrales
- GM Ben Finegold
- GM Andre Diamant
- GM Denes Boros
- WGM Anna Sharevich
- IM Steven Zierk
- IM Priyadharshan Kannappan
- IM Mac Molner
- IM Justin Sarkar
- IM Vitaly Neimer
- IM Levan Bregadze
- IM Angelo Young
The tournament features two-day and three-day options and three separate sections: Open (FIDE rated), U1800 and U1400. For more information or to register, click this link.
Immediately following the Thanksgiving Open, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis will host the 2012 CCSCSL Invitational, a GM and IM norm event.
The GM Invitational will take place November 26-30, and will feature the following line-up:
- GM Ben Finegold: USA 2493
- GM Denes Boros: HUN 2492
- GM Andre Diamant: BRA 2471
- IM Mac Molner: USA 2489
- IM Darwin Yang: USA 2485
- IM Steven Zierk: USA 2483
- IM Marc Esserman: USA 2445
- IM Justin Sarkar: USA 2408
- IM Priyadharshan Kannappan: IND 2407
- IM Vitaly Niemer: ISR 2373
Tournament organizers expect players will need to score 6.5/9 to secure a GM norm.
The field features a number of strong contenders for norms. Both Zierk and Yang are perennial Junior Championship participants, and Kannappan has turned in an unparalleled performance in the U.S. Chess League, securing the MVP title with three weeks left in the regular season. Neimer recently earned a GM norm with a superb performance at this year's SPICE Cup, which was held in Saint Louis this past week, and Esserman just wrote a thoroughly ground-breaking work in the Morra Gambit Sicilian published by Quality Chess.
The IM norm event will be held in conjunction with the GM norm event. A complete list of players is being finalized, so stay tuned for more details.
Since its inception in 2007, the CCSCSL has worked to promote chess locally and nationally by offering lessons and classes at its world-class facility, bringing chess programming to schools all across the greater Saint Louis area and by hosting major events like the U.S. Championships, international matches between the world’s best players and special training camps for the country’s top talent.
Hosting GM and IM norm events allows us to provide even more opportunities for U.S. chess players to bring their game to the next level.
For more information about the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, visit www.saintlouischessclub.org.
