IM David Pruess Earns 2nd GM Norm in France

The word on the street is IM David Pruess has just recently earned his 2nd GM norm with 7/9 in a tournament in France. Josh Friedel had a solid performance with 6.5/9, which was just shy of the norm. I guess the two of them are traveling Europe for norms this month, as Josh just told me they are about to start another GM Norm tournament in Germany on November 10th.

I hung out with Pruess at the New England Masters and Foxwoods Open this year, and I have to tell you he’s a WICKED nice guy. His chess style is like the exact opposite of his personality, since Pruess is very mild-mannered and low key off the board but plays like a maniac at the board!

It will be interesting to see whether it will be Josh or David (or someone else) who will be the next US Born GM. Both now have 2 GM Norms, but Josh is only about 15-20 points away from the required 2500 rating while David still has about 80 points to go. So even if Pruess gets another GM norm in Germany, he likely won’t have the required rating. If Josh can have a breakout tournament he will probably get both the Norm and required rating at the same time.

Now the San Francisco Mechanics have a great excuse as to why they lost to the Miami Sharks last night, their 2 superstars: IM Pruess and IM Friedel were both in Europe!