Bryan Smith: Where is he now

http://www.chess.com/members/view/IMBryanSmith

From 2nd to 8th January, 2012  http://www.chessdom.com/northern-california-international-2012

"...the tournament offers the possibilities for obtaining GM and IM norms."

Here IM Smith talks about winning a tournament.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7aI1ncRsE0  No mention of getting a norm, and does not appear to be as excited about the win as might be expected.

GM Sam Shankland is less politically correct about the same tournament, and "quit" chess because of the impossibility of getting a GM norm where norm possibilites were promised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJbgI6mehY4

As indicated above Smith won the tournament, but did not get a norm. Happens where the GMs do so badly the IMs have to play the low rated players now at the top of the table.

Edit: More about the 2012 Northern California International here  http://www.chess.com/news/northern-california-international-set-for-january-2012-7060

Where's the crosstable for the tourney under discussion ?

It appears that IM Smith has been playing in Europe most , or all , of 2011.....  more norm possibilities there for sure.....

Philadelphia International 2010, June 25-29, 2010, Valley Forge, PA

http://www.chesstour.com/pi10.htm

http://chesstournamentservices.com/cca/world-open/world-open-2010/

http://chesstournamentservices.com/cca/2010/06/philadelphia-international-2010-standings/

From the first artice Smith wrote for the site. "In this three part series, IM Bryan Smith describes his trip to Europe in search of a better life as a chess player."

http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-travelling-chess-player

I would guess the Philadelphia International 2010 was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Thanks

US chess players with norm aspirations have known a long time that its better to go to Europe to get norms. The US is just behind Europe in chess and this has been the case for a long time. Smith raised his fide to 2500+ it appears and then hit a bad patch but if he gets the norms now he will get the GM title since he has had the required 2500 fide rating.... the pairings in the Philly event look very strange to me...... it looks like he was content to draw his last 4 rounds to clinch first place he didnt win a single game against a GM nor any higher rated player and that wont get you a GM norm and after winning his first 2 rounds he got paired against far weaker players in rounds 3 and 4 and this hurt him a lot and the pairings are strange...... it appears they started with accelerated pairings to me. 

The intimation at the time was the weaker players should not have been allowed to play. They were there to provide entry fees to the organizers.

Without them, even if Smith or Shankland could not beat the GMs there was at least a possibility.

Without putting Shankland's words in Smith's mouth, at some point he may have realized the norm was a pipe dream so he should at least get the money.

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Players who organize tournaments know they have practice discrimination against their low-rated colleagues.

2012 Northern California International  http://dotq.org/chess/

"The tournament is generally open only to players with FIDE Ratings of at least 2000 (organizers do have discretion to make special exceptions). The number of players rated under 2200 FIDE will be limited to at most one-third of the field though to ensure players of having good chances to make GM norms. Those in that category who wish to play should contact organizers as soon as possible as the event may not be open to such players at a later date."

Looks like the 2012 Northern California International is another bump in the road. The pairings for round eight are known and no matter where he ends up, Smith will not have played the required 3 GMs.

http://dotq.org/chess/Standings

http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html?id=58&view=article

"1.45b For a GM norm at least 1/3 with a minimum 3 of the opponents (MO) must be GMs. For exact numbers see table in 1.7."