Manon Reja Neer secured a significant victory against Hungary’s Grandmaster (GM) Berkage David in the sixth round of the First Saturday Grand Masters tournament in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday. Following this triumph, Neer drew with a FIDE Master in the seventh round.
After seven rounds, Neer accumulated three and a half points. Unfortunately, his chances of achieving a GM norm from this tournament ended two rounds prior.
Conversely, the trip to Budapest proved disappointing for International Master (IM) Fahad Rahman. He missed the norm at the Olympiad and, despite participating in three tournaments on his own initiative, failed to secure a norm.
Fahad was on the brink of obtaining another GM norm if he had won the final round of the second tournament but fell short with a draw. In the third and final tournament, Fahad was on track to achieve the GM norm until the fifth round. However, a defeat to Hungary’s FIDE Master Igresi Meite in the sixth round dashed his hopes. He did manage a victory over India’s FIDE Master Wag Suyok in the seventh round, ending with four and a half points after seven rounds.
Even with victories in the last two rounds, Fahad will fall short of the GM norm by half a point.
FIDE Master Tahsin Tajwar Zia scored three points from seven games in the International Masters Chess tournament. In the Under-2250 Rating Event, Female Candidate Master Waliza Ahmed finished third overall with four points from seven games.
