Photos by Paul Truong
Sponsored by the Webster University and the Susan Polgar Foundation, the competition promised a $15 thousand prize fund as well as free entries to masters and grandmasters as well as prizes for best female player. In fact, to ensure the maximum norm possibilities, foreign grandmasters were offered free hotel accommodation as well.
As is typical for such opens in the US, it was an intense schedule with nine rounds played over the course of six days at the rate of 90 minutes for the entire game and a 30-second increment as of move one.
The top seed was Le Quang Liem (above left), and while he started strong with 3.5/4, including a win over Timur Gareyev (right), he finished with five draws and in fifth place. Gareyev on the other hand had a hit-cold-hot event, and though he too finished on 6.0/9, it came after three wins, then three losses and finally three wins once again.
IM Akshat Chandra came within a half point of a GM norm, though the title will not elude him long
IM Awonder Liang
FM Justus Williams and Jim Voelker
Eckert - Ashwin
White committed an oversight here. Black to play and win.
1...Rxg2+! 2.Kxg2 Bh3+ and White loses his queen to the discovered check.
0-1
WGM Anna Sharevich
The winner's trophy
IM Li Ruifeng (left) played an excellent event and ended with a 2604 performance. Facing him above is GM Jeffery Xiong (2647 FIDE) who also gained some Elo points and will be in the Top 100 in the next ratings list. Both are trained by...
... GM Babakuli Annakov standing here with Susan Polgar
Ray Robson made it to the finish line tied for first
Robson - Rosen
Shawn Swindell and Luisa Fernanda Mercado
When the dust had settled, both Ray Robson and Samuel Sevian were tied for first with 6.5/9. They decided the title on an Armageddon tiebreaker that Sevian won with black.
Ray Robson - Samuel Sevian (Armageddon blitz playoff)
[Event "SPICE Cup Open TB 2016"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2016.10.22"] [Round "1"] [White "Robson, R."] [Black "Sevian, Samuel"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C53"] [WhiteElo "2670"] [BlackElo "2591"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "2016.10.22"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. O-O d6 7. a4 a6 8. Bg5 Ba7 9. Nbd2 Qe7 10. Re1 Nd8 11. Nf1 Ne6 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Nxe3 c6 14. g3 Qc7 15. a5 Rd8 16. Qb3 Nc5 17. Qa2 Be6 18. Bxe6 Nxe6 19. Nc4 Re8 20. Rad1 Rad8 21. b4 Nf8 22. Kg2 h6 23. Qc2 Ng6 24. Ne3 d5 25. Nf5 Rd7 26. c4 dxe4 27. dxe4 Rxd1 28. Rxd1 c5 29. Nd6 Rb8 30. Qb2 cxb4 31. Qxb4 b6 32. Rb1 Nd7 33. Qd2 bxa5 34. Ra1 Nc5 35. Nf5 Nxe4 36. Qd5 Nf6 37. Qxa5 Qxc4 38. Qxa6 Qg4 39. Qxf6 Nf4+ 40. Kg1 Ne2+ 41. Kg2 Nf4+ 42. Kg1 Nh3+ 43. Kg2 Qc4 0-1
Winners Samuel Sevian and Ray Robson
Final standings
|
Rk |
SNo |
Ti. |
Name |
FED |
Rtg |
Pts |
TB |
|
1 |
8 |
GM |
Sevian Samuel |
USA |
2591 |
6,5 |
48,0 |
|
2 |
2 |
GM |
Robson Ray |
USA |
2670 |
6,5 |
47,0 |
|
3 |
7 |
GM |
Nyzhnyk Illya |
UKR |
2607 |
6,0 |
49,0 |
|
4 |
3 |
GM |
Xiong Jeffery |
USA |
2647 |
6,0 |
49,0 |
|
5 |
1 |
GM |
Le Quang Liem |
VIE |
2723 |
6,0 |
48,5 |
|
6 |
5 |
GM |
Gareyev Timur |
USA |
2615 |
6,0 |
48,0 |
|
7 |
6 |
GM |
Durabayli Vasif |
AZE |
2608 |
6,0 |
46,5 |
|
8 |
9 |
IM |
Li Ruifeng |
USA |
2538 |
5,5 |
48,5 |
|
9 |
4 |
GM |
Shimanov Aleksandr |
RUS |
2639 |
5,5 |
46,0 |
|
10 |
11 |
IM |
Chandra Akshat |
USA |
2490 |
5,5 |
45,5 |
|
11 |
14 |
GM |
Ashwin Jayaram |
IND |
2468 |
5,5 |
44,5 |
|
12 |
44 |
GM |
Troff Kayden W |
USA |
2501 |
5,5 |
42,5 |
|
13 |
18 |
FM |
Kaliksteyn Alexander |
USA |
2412 |
5,5 |
41,5 |
|
14 |
17 |
IM |
Brown Michael William |
USA |
2431 |
5,0 |
44,0 |
|
15 |
26 |
|
Grabinsky Aaron |
USA |
2330 |
5,0 |
44,0 |
|
16 |
10 |
GM |
Kannappan Priyadharshan |
IND |
2525 |
5,0 |
43,0 |
|
17 |
15 |
IM |
Kiewra Keaton F |
USA |
2454 |
5,0 |
38,0 |
|
18 |
16 |
IM |
Sukandar Irine Kharisma |
INA |
2432 |
5,0 |
35,0 |
|
19 |
45 |
GM |
Leon Hoyos Manuel |
MEX |
2488 |
4,5 |
46,5 |
|
20 |
30 |
|
Rahul Srivatshav P |
IND |
2277 |
4,5 |
42,0 |
Click for complete standings
