FM Stephen Muhammad has seen his star rise for the past couple of years. The Columbus-based FIDE Master has earned two IM norms and earned a chance to close out the title by qualifying for the 2003 U.S. Championship in Seattle. The World Open has always been a good tournament for Muhammad. In this year's tournament, he earned his second norm and scorched the field with a 2634 performance!! In the game that follows, he faces IM Eugene Perelshteyn. This was a crucial game to win if he was to stay on pace for the norm. What followed in the game was an unleashing of power unfurled with a vacating sacrifice of  21.e5!! Thereafter, Perelshteyn was unable to stop the onslaught by Muhammad's active pieces and losses mounted.