Mas finishes 8th in Banicky

Mas finished a disappointing eight position in the grandmaster tournament in Banicky, Slovakia. He only managed half a point from his last three games to get a total of four points, far from the required 6.5 points (which I calculated is the GM norm requirement).

The final standings:

IM SIMACEK Pavel 6,0
IM JURCIK Marian 6,0
IM MICHALIK Peter 5,0
GM KRIVOSHEY Sergei4,5
GM POLAK Tomas 4,5
GM STOHL Igor 4,5
FM STRUNSKI Andreas4,0
IM MAS Hafizulhelmi4,0
IM HIRNEISE Tobias 3,5
FM CSIBA Dominik 3,0

So even the co-winners could not reach the required 6.5 points for the grandmaster norm.

For Mas, it will be another failure to get that first elusive GM norm. Apparently, I am told, it is much easier once you obtain the first one. The rest seems to fall into place obediently :) It is not uncommon for someone to get another 2-3 norms once they have the first norm in the bag. Strange but true.