In round seven of the Berkeley International 2008, the frontrunners began to separate themselves from the rest of the pack a little bit. While Josh Friedel and Giorgi Kacheishvili played to a draw, both Irina Krush and Zviad Izoria scored victories to move back into a tie for the lead. Krush outmaneuvered Lev Milman in an exciting Q+R versus Q+R endgame? middlegame? Hard to say which it was. Izoria beat Daniel Naroditsky, who blundered a pawn in what looked to me like a pretty drawish middlegame.
So as we go into round eight, the leaders are Izoria, Kacheishvili, and Krush with 5/7, and just behind them is Josh Friedel at 4.5/7. Sharavdorj, Rensch, and Esserman are tied for fifth at 4/7, but I don’t think any of them have realistic chances of catching up with the leaders. The winners are likely to come from the top current top four. Although Josh is trailing the other three, he also has more control over his own destiny, because he has not played either Izoria or Krush yet. Wins against them would almost certainly catapult him to the top.
One of the nice things about this tournament is that it is intended to provide norm opportunities for rising players. So players who are no longer in contention for first place — for example, FIDE masters Rensch, Esserman, and Naroditsky — still have a lot to play for, because they have a good shot at earning International Master norms. And Krush, who is already an IM, has a terrific chance of getting a Grandmaster norm, in addition to perhaps winning the tournament. Hopefully after today’s games I’ll be able to sort out better for you who needs to do what in the last two rounds.
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Krush just has to win the WC for women to become GM like so many did before her.
I dont know but i think that beside our chinese girl, Hou Yifan, and Judith Polgar all other female GMs got their title that way.