In the Sportland NRW Women´s Cup a Grandmaster norm is no longer possible, but in the Sportland NRW Youth Cup an IM norm for Artem Lutsko is within reach.
Lara Schulze is playing an outstanding tournament and was the sole leader before round eight. Today her game started well. But the advantage evaporated and then Schulze made a big mistake, losing a piece and the game.
So she is still tied for the lead with Zoya Schleining after her draw today. But the possibility of the WGM norm is now unfortunately no longer there.
The leader in the Sportland NRW Cup, IM Jonathan Carlstedt, also lost his game today.
"Leonardo Costa was clearly the stronger player today, played very well and I deserved to lose. Luckily I collected a few mistakes in one game today and didn't scatter them over different games."
Artem Lutsko, meanwhile, defeated GM Alexander Bagrationi with Black. The young Ukrainian is playing a great tournament and is now tied on points with Carlstedt. A draw against Timo Leonard, who is last in the table, is enough for him to get the IM norm tomorrow.