William Morrison bags 3rd IM norm!

FM William Morrison
Photo by Daaim Shabazz

FM William Morrison has been on the chess scene for decades and is a veritable legend in both New York’s Black Bear tradition and in the Baltimore/DC area. He has been as active as his family life will allow and is about as proud and personable of a man as they come. These days he is committed to earning the coveted GM title and was fortunate to notch his third IM norm at the 2016 World Open. Without offering any bad puns, he capped off the tournament was a resounding win over GM Irina Krush. He ended on 6.5/9 with losses to eventual winner Hungary’s GM Gabor Papp and UCLA student Luke Harmon-Vellotti.

With a moniker of “Exterminator” he did some of this by uncorking some of his home preparation, particularly in his game against GM Ashwin Jayaram, a relatively new GM from India. Here is the game:

After this thrilling draw, Morrison was 3.5/5, but was disappointed at not getting the win. Immediately after the game, he mentioned that he saw the winning continuation, but also saw a fortress where white could not make progress. However, the adage goes, “even if you see the best line, make sure the opponent sees it too.” This game may have taken some of the energy out of Morrison as the missed opportunity lingered. He lost to Harmon-Vellotti before rattling off three consecutive wins against a 2100 player, IM Yury Lapshun and the aforementioned game with Krush.

In this game, Morrison trotted out the c3 Sicilian (combined with the Kopec) and Krush opted for a solid position that resembled the French Defense. However, Morrison got a big advantage in space and was able to position his pieces in an aggressive fashion. After optimizing his pieces came a venomous knight sacrifice with 29.Nf5! After leaving the board, Morrison continued calculating lines other than 29…exf5 which he though gave white an overwhelming attack. When he returned to the board he saw that Krush had indeed accepted the sack and after 30.e6! the black king came under heavy fire. Take a look.

Analyzing the win over six-time women’s champion GM Irina Krush.

The game came to an abrupt ending after 29.Nf5! exf5.
The Exterminator was pleasantly surprised!
Photos by Daaim Shabazz.

After the game, Morrison went to the skittles room to take a look and the analysis proved to be correct. However there was one other matter that needed attention. Did he earn his final norm? The arbiters stated that they were 95% certain, but of course he wanted to be sure. Upon calculation, it appears that an average 2320 opposition results in a 6.5-point IM norm. Thus, Morrison will have earned his third and only needs to breach the 2400 rating barrier. His high FIDE rating has been 2390 and high USCF rating has been 2535.

In an interview with The Chess Drum, Morrison stated that he will seek the GM title in the next couple of years to fulfill a lifelong dream.

FM William Morrison (2295-USA)
#	Player	ELO	Nation	Flag	Result
1	Harshita Guddanti	2051	India		1
2	GM Gabor Papp	2596	Hungary		0
3	Siddharth G Banik	2181	USA		1
4	Brandon Nydick	2159	USA		1
5	GM Ashwin Jayaram	2460	India		½
6	IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti	2409	USA		0
7	Sanjay Ghatti	2150	USA		1
8	IM Yury Lapshun	2438	USA		1
9	GM Irina Krush	2443	USA		1
Score: 6½-2½ IM NORM