Marc Esserman makes 3rd IM norm!

Marc, amused perhaps by a move like Ke2(!)

photo by Tony Cortizas

This holiday season has been a banner month for Boylston Chess Club players. Right on the heels of the knighting of our newest national master, Carey Theil, another club player and board member, Marc Esserman, has acheived his 3rd and final International Master (IM) norm with his impressive performance at the 2008 Berkeley Invitational. For those who cannot keep up with the esoteric rules of FIDE, this means he should become an IM when his FIDE rating reaches 2400. Currently at 2348 (not including Berkeley), Marc surely will reach this milestone soon.

He started out with 2 wins against grandmasters (he stood at 2.5/4 after 4 GMs in a row), and he capped it with important points against a who's who of top IMs in the country. How good was Marc's play at the start of this event? One telling tidbit -- his firey start was only quelled by an in-form IM Irina Krush (just missing a GM norm), who, in an interview at Dana's Chess Blog, stated that her best game of the tournament was her victory over Marc.

Of course, I would be remiss not to include a link to some of Marc's wins. Here is his first round win over GM Josh Friedel.

For further coverage, please read other posts at Dana's chess blog (which has extensive coverage of the event), and some more USCF articles here and here.

Congratulations, Marc, on a fine result and making that 3rd norm.