FM Michael Song secured an IM norm before even playing the last round at the NA Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. He unfortunately lost his last round to finish with 5.5/9. At 4.5/9 were young masters FM Olivier-Kenta Chiku Ratté and Hong Rui Zhu from Quebec.
Several other Canadians participated. Among them, we should congratulate Michael Su (6/7, U1900) for winning $4311 and James Li (6/7, U1700) for winning $3285.
[Event "25th North American Open"]
[Site "Las Vegas"]
[Date "2015.12.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Song, Michael"]
[Black "Tang, Andrew"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2340"]
[BlackElo "2416"]
[Annotator "Upper,John"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2015.12.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "MonRoi"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h4
Nd7 9. g5 h6 10. g6 Ngf6 11. gxf7+ Bxf7 12. Bd3 Nh5 13. Bh2 (13. Be5 O-O 14.
Qg4 Nhf6 15. Qg3 Nh5 16. Qg4 Nhf6 17. Qg3 Nh5 {1/2-1/2 (17) Morozevich,A (2762)
-Giri,A (2714) Reggio Emilia 2012}) 13... Bxh4 (13... O-O 14. Qg4 Ndf6 15. Qg2
Be6 16. Bg6 Ne4 (16... Ng4 $3 $13) 17. Nf3 Nxc3 18. bxc3 Qa5 19. Kd2 Qa3 20.
Rhb1 Nf6 21. Rb3 Qa6 22. Be5 c5 {1/2-1/2 (39) Stefanova,A (2496)-Kosteniuk,A
(2495) Tashkent 2013}) 14. Nf3 O-O 15. Kd2 Bxf2 16. Qe2 Bg3 17. Rag1 Bxh2 18.
Rxh2 Re8 19. Qg2 Qe7 20. Kc2 g5 (20... Qxe3 21. Rxh5 $18) 21. Qh1 Ndf6 22. Ne5
Qc7 23. Be2 (23. Nxf7 Qxf7 24. Be2 Rxe3 25. Bxh5 Nxh5 26. Rxh5 Qg6+ 27. Kd2 $3
(27. Kb3 Kg7 $13) 27... Qd3+ 28. Kc1 Re6 29. Rgxg5+ $1 $18) 23... Rxe5 24. dxe5
Qxe5 25. Bxh5 Nxh5 26. Rxh5 Bg6+ 27. e4 $1 d4 $2 (27... Bxh5 28. Qxh5 Qe6 29.
exd5 cxd5 30. Rd1 $14) 28. Rxh6 $8 $18 Kg7 29. Qh2 $2 (29. Rh5 $3 Bxh5 30. Qxh5
Kf6 31. Qh6+ Ke7 32. Rxg5 $18) 29... Re8 $1 30. Qxe5+ Rxe5 31. Rh2 dxc3 32.
Kxc3 Rxe4 $6 (32... c5 $1 $14) 33. Rxg5 Kf6 34. Rg3 Re6 35. Rh8 Kf7 36. Ra8 a6
37. Rb8 Re7 38. Kb4 Re4+ 39. Kc5 Re5+ 40. Kb6 Rb5+ 41. Ka7 $18 Rxb2 42. Rxb7+
Rxb7+ 43. Kxb7 a5 44. Ra3 1-0