The 2nd Lindsborg Rotary Open, held in Lindsborg, Kansas was a successful day of chess for International Master John Donaldson. Not only did he tie for first with Grandmaster (GM) Alex Onischuk, rated 200 points higher than he, but his performance brought him one step closer to his own GM title, called a �norm�. A norm is earned when a player wins a certain amount of games against Grandmaster-level opponents in one FIDE rated tournament. This is IM Donaldson�s first GM norm.

It is unfortunately rare that Amercian players get to earn their norms without having to travel internationally. The United States only hosted 4 FIDE rated norm-worthy tournaments a year; the U.S. Open in Philadelphia, the U.S. Championships in Seattle, the Imre Koenig Memorial in San Francisco, and this tournament. Anna Katonskih from the Ukraine earned an IM norm, falling only a half point shy of a GM norm.

Linsborg, Kansas, held a week-long chess festival from December 17th through the 23rd that coincided with a week of training for the internationally known GM Anatoly Karpov, who was gearing up for the Kasparov-Karpov X3D match in New York City.

Final Standings 1-2 GM A Onischuk (USA), IM J Donaldson (USA) 6.5/9; 3-6 GM Y Shulman (Belarus), WGM A Zatonskih (Ukraine), GM I Novikov (USA), IM M Vucic (USA) 6; 7-8 FM S Muhammad (USA), IM R Burnett (USA) 5.5; 9-10 IM W Paschall (USA), IM J Kraai (USA) 5.

A Onischuk I Novikov 2nd Lindsborg Rotary Open Marshall Gambit 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c6 4 e4 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Bb4+ 6 Bd2 Qxd4 7 Bxb4 Qxe4+ 8 Be2 Na6 9 Bc3 Ne7 10 Bxg7 Rg8 11 Bf6 Qf4 12 Bc3 Rxg2 13 Nf3 Nf5 14 Be5 Qh6 15 Qd2 Qxd2+ 16 Nxd2 Rg6 17 Ne4 Ke7 18 h4 c5 19 h5 Rh6 20 Bf4 Bd7 21 f3 Bc6 22 Kf2 e5 23 Bxh6 Nxh6 24 Rhg1 Bxe4 25 fxe4 Nc7 26 Rad1 Ne6 27 Bf1 Nd4 28 Bh3 Ng8 29 Rg5 Kd6 30 Rg7 Ke7 31 h6 Nxh6 32 Rxh7 Ng8 33 Rh8 Rf8 34 Ke3 Nc2+ 35 Kd3 Nd4 36 Rg1 Nf6 37 Rxf8 Kxf8 38 Rg5 Nc6 39 a3 Nh7 40 Rh5 Nf6 41 Rh8+ Ke7 42 Bc8 Nd8 43 b4 cxb4 44 axb4 b6 45 Bf5 Ne8 46 c5 Nc7 47 Rh6 bxc5 48 bxc5 Nb7 49 Kc4 Na5+ 50 Kb4 Nb7 51 Bc8 Nd8 52 Rd6 Nde6 53 Bxe6 Nxe6 54 Kc4 Nc7 55 Rd1 1-0

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