It's not easy making norms

Not only does the master have to win against 2400+ players, he or she also has to find a way to beat well-prepared experts who play active, solid chess.  (And all the young players today seem to be well-prepared...)  The stronger player needs to find winning chances, preferably without creating losing chances....

Adarsh proves up to the task, but the modestly-rated Sarah Chiang had chances of her own until late in the game.

A "simple" pawn ending

Position after 45.Ka3: does conversion to a pure pawn ending with 45...Rxb5 draw?

In the last round of the CICL summer league tournament graciously hosted by the gurus of capital at Citadel Group, Mack Smith and I played a fun game with several interesting points. Learn from my mistakes! 

Beginners may wish to play around with the trébuchet position first to better understand what's going on in the pawn ending. You'll find a brief explanation in the Wikipedia article on zugzwang.