8-year-old FIDE master third in US

MANILA, Philippines - Chess phenom Alekhine Nouri is slowly but surely living up to his reputation as the next Wesley So.

Nouri, the world’s youngest ever FIDE Master at eight years old, finished tied for third in the under-1900 division of the North American Open in Las Vegas, Nevada recently by finishing with 5.5 points out of a possible seven.

The Negros Occidental native, who relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to train at Ted Castro’s NorCal House of Chess, finished with six victories and a draw, which would have catapulted him at joint first.

But the decision to play Nouri, whose FIDE rating is 1617, in the under-1700 section in his first two games backfired since it counts for only half a point in the under-1900 age group where he eventually re-entered starting in the third round.

Instead, Nouri wound up in a logjam at third to ninth places and pocketed $817.86 or about P36,800.

Nouri, whose father Hamed is a master back home, is hoping to hone his chess by playing in the US where he hopes to eventually become the next So, who blew away the field to rule the Open section of the event.