Brewington Hardaway Earns IM Title And First GM Norm
IM-elect Brewington Hardaway crossed the 2400 FIDE rating mark to earn the international master title at the U.S. Masters 2023 on Sunday at the Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina. Already having four IM norms, he should receive the title at the next FIDE Congress. He also even earned his first norm for the grandmaster title.
I just got my first GM Norm at the 2023 U.S Masters! I scored 6/9 (4W-4D-1L) and 8 of my opponents were GM level players. My FIDE rating is now 2435 which also makes me an IM! As always I am grateful for the great organization of the @CLTchesscenter and hope to be back in 2024!
— Brewington Hardaway (@IMBrewChess) November 27, 2023
The 14-year-old prodigy surged 112 rating points in November, gaining 50 points at the 1000GM NY GM A Fall Invitational 2023, a closed round-robin tournament, and another 62 points at the U.S. Masters. His rating is now 2435.
He's had similar, explosive spurts in the past. Last year, Hardaway skyrocketed from 2172 to 2259 in one month and then shot up over 2300 early the following year. He earned both his FM and IM titles in 2023.
The U.S. Masters was a strong, nine-round Swiss tournament. Only titled players (WFM or higher) could participate, with the new exception that untitled juniors under 20 years old, rated 2000+ FIDE or 2100+ USCF, could also join.
He played five grandmasters and two international masters; IM Brian Escalante, with whom he drew, crossed 2500 in this tournament and is now a GM-elect. Hardaway's single loss came against GM Titas Stremavicius, but he made draws with GMs Renato Quintiliano Pinto and David Brodsky. He beat GMs Praveen Balakrishnan and Yasser Quesada Perez.
In the last round, Hardaway crashed through against Balakrishnan after putting great pressure on the board and the clock, with over 20 minutes against just under two. In round four against Quesada, his highest-rated opponent, Hardaway had two minutes against five in a complicated heavy-piece endgame. After 49...f5??, he transitioned into a rook endgame up two pawns and converted flawlessly.
Hardaway earned $600 for the U2350 prize and accomplished the first step toward becoming a grandmaster, achieving the norm. For the 14-year-old, the sky is the limit.
His next tournament, his mother informed Chess.com, will be the 2023 National K-12 Grade Championships in Orlando, Florida. He will play in the ninth-grade section and with his team for the Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School.
How to review?
You can review the games from the U.S. Masters 2023 on our events page here.
The U.S. Masters 2023 took place on November 22-26, 2023, at the Charlotte Chess Center. The format was a nine-round Swiss. The time control was 90 minutes for the entire game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one.
Previous coverage:
NM Anthony Levin caught the chess bug at the "late" age of 18 and never turned back. He earned his national master title in 2021, actually the night before his first day of work at Chess.com.
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