I thought so! 

you know me very well lawdogg so i know you know that i know that you know my answer. :-)

David, just answer one question for me honestly. Are you happy with the quick draw and is it something you would like to see more of in the future, or do you consider it unfortunate and not something you would like to see in the future? It's a simple question and you can't have it both ways. 

what she means lawdogg is that if both players take minimum risks at various junctures (and are at a decently high level) the percentage chance of a draw can go into the high 90s. for example, a lot of GM games in the past have gone:

d4 d5 c4 (solid choice by white) c6 (one of the more solid defenses for black, and maybe black also knows that white would be happy with a draw) cxd (white wants a draw) cxd... and then when the players have choices along the way, for example white's bishop is on f4 and black is choosing between Be7 (keeping pieces on) or Bd6 (trading) they will tend to make the Bd6 choice. this can make draws quite likely sometimes.

No, qixel. You are too biased on this one. IM Rensch admitted that it was problematic.

If both players go into a game needing a draw, wanting a draw, and playing for a draw, then guess what?  There's going to be a draw.

There's nothing nefarious, illegal, or even weak about it.

Thank you, Gupta, for being on top of it. Still sounds weak, agreeing to a quick draw, but at least it wasn't prearranged. 

I told them both that we would be watching their game closely. I also closely watched the game, and they asked me, specifically if they could offer/accept the draw before it was taken while the game was in progress, and by our contract (required to play in our tournaments) due to the 20 moves made, we had no objections. The position they reached was fairly drawish as well.

There was no pre-draw agreement as you seem to suggest. I was in the playing hall between the 8th and 9th round, and Banawa was reviewing on his computer between the 8th and 9th round, and Wang did not come into the playing hall until about 5 minutes before the 9th round, and did not know about Banawa's score until then in the 8th round.

We had TD's watching the entire process of that game specifically in that round. All games are going to be submitted to TWIC, and you yourself can see that the resulting position of that game was very drawish.

Wow! That's lame. I mean, I can sort of understand why they would do that. Neither one wanted to miss getting the norm. But, that doesn't make it right. Imagine if two football teams agreed to play to a 0-0 tie so that both of them could make the playoffs.

Fans and reporters would never let them hear the end of the criticism. And there might even be legal or quasi-legal consequences. Maybe a Congressional hearing like with steroids. TV shows like Pardon The Interruption would denounce them constantly. 

Death penalty for quick draws -- executions carried out during the closing ceremony. Problem solved, *and* a bigger TV audience.

Yes Lawdog, they did. Unfortunate that they agreed to a quick draw, and not really something I would like to see in the future... but yeah, they both earned their IM Norms by taking the draw...

Did Wang and Banawa draw each other in the last game to assure each other of getting the norms? 

Congratulations to Jacek Stopa.

And congrats to Philip and Joel on the IM norms !

Love you guys <3

FM Philip Xiao Wang and FM Joel Banawa achieved IM norms.

Standings have been updated at: http://metrochessla.com/schedule.php

FM Michael Casella, FM Alexandre Kretchetov, and FM Joel Banawa are in the lead with 2.5 out of 3.0. 6.5 out of 9.0 is needed for the IM norm. Other norm contenders include FM Philip Xiao Wang at 2.0 out of 3.0.

Are the round by round pairings listed anywhere?  I assume those were determined pre-tournament, but I don't see them on the website.

round 2 this morning will not have live relays of the games, but round 3 this evening (5 pm pac, 8 pm est) will have all games live from about 5:30 pm on (in live chess premium, go to the events tab, then click on the boards to observe).

Good news from USA!