New Aussie IM

And speaking of norms...

Melbourne's Nick Speck is Australia's latest IM-norm achiever. Currently competing in the Gibtelecom Masters (from which he withdrew last year due to suboptimal performance), Mr Speck played marvellously well to secure his third and final IM norm requirement. Like FM George Xie, he now only needs to push his rating up to 2400 to be officially conferred the title.

In round 7 - Nick, who works as a chess coach, defeated Antoaneta Stefanova - the current Women's World Champion. The Gibtele tournament bulletin editors wrote: "The bulletin staff believe that Nick may be the first Aussie to have beaten a reigning world champion."

Here is that game.

Gibtelecom Masters Gibraltar
Stefanova,A
Speck,N
B06

1 d4 g6 2 e4 Bg7 3 Nc3 d6 4 Be3 a6 5 f4 b5 6 Nf3 Bb7 7 Bd3 Nd7 8 a4 b4 9 Ne2 Ngf6 10 Ng3 c5 11 c3 Qa5 12 Bd2 bxc3 13 bxc3 Qc7 14 e5 Nd5 15 0–0 0–0 16 e6 fxe6 17 Ng5 cxd4 18 Nxe6 Qc6 19 cxd4 Ne3 20 Qe2 Nxf1 21 Rxf1 Qxa4 22 Kh1 Rf7 23 f5 Nf8 24 Ng5 Bf6 25 fxg6 hxg6 26 Nxf7 Kxf7 27 Qg4 Qa2 28 Rf2 Rc8 29 h4 Qe6 30 Nf5 gxf5 31 Bxf5 Qc4 32 Qh5+ Kg8 33 Rf4 Bg7 34 Rg4 Qf7 35 Qh6 e6 36 Bd3 Rc7 37 Qg5 Bd5 38 Qd8 Qe7 39 Qb8 Rb7 40 Qc8 Qc7 41 Qe8 Qf7 42 Qd8 Qh5 43 Be2 Qf5 44 Bf4 Qb1+ 45 Kh2 Rd7 46 Qe8 Qf5 47 Bh6 Qf6 48 Qh5 a5 49 Bb5 Rb7 50 Be8 e5 51 Rg5 Be6 52 dxe5 dxe5 53 Rg3 e4 54 Bc6 Rc7 55 Bxe4 a4 56 Bg5 Qe5 57 Qf3 Rc3 58 Be3 Rc4 59 Bh6 Rc3 60 Be3 a3 61 h5 a2 62 h6 Rxe3 63 Qxe3 Qh5+ 64 Kg1 a1Q+ 65 Kf2 Qf6+ 66 Bf3 Qhxh6 0–1