Hack, Slash and Burn

While it seems that GM norms may be out of reach in the top event of the Australian Young Masters, there are still a few players with chances of picking up an IM norm. One player is Albert Winkelman, who is currently tied for first place in the IM tournament. He is currently undefeated with 3 wins and 4 draws, and needs 1.5/2 to score his first IM norm. His result is all the more remarkable as he is the tournaments bottom seed, but is performing at 300 points above his rating.

The following win (over Fedja Zulfic) demonstrates the form he is in. After Fedja seemed to unnecessarily drop the pawn on e3 his position rapidly went south. After Winkelman the exchange sacrifice on e2, the White king had very few safe squares. A couple of nice knight moves was then all that was needed to finish the game.

Zulfic,Fedja (2204) - Winkelman,Albert (2075) [A00]
2018 Lidums Australian Young Masters IM Adelaide, South Australia (5.3), 11.12.2018

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 O-O 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 Bg4 9. f3 Bh5 10. Ne2 Bg6 11. O-O c5 12. Ng3 Re8 13. Ra2 Qa5 14. Rc2 Nc6 15. Bb2 Rxe3 16. Bxg6 hxg6 17. Qc1 Re7 18. h4 Qc7 19. Kf2 Rae8 20. h5 Re3 21. hxg6 fxg6 22. Ne2 Qh2 23. Rh1 Rxe2+ 24. Rxe2 Rxe2+ 25. Kxe2 Qxg2+ 26. Ke3 Na5 27. Ba1 Nc4+ 28. Kd3 Ng4 29. Rg1 Nb2+ 0-1