Illya Nyzhnyk wins Spice Cup 2014The Spice Cup 2014 was held from the 21st to 26th October 2014 in Saint Louis, Missouri. The event was sponsored by the Webster University along with Susan Polgar Foundation.
The two sponsors for the event are the Webster University along with the initiative SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence), which relocated in February 2012 from Texas University to Webster University, along with all the members of the reigning National Collegiate Chess team. The two have formed a deadly duo: ever since they joined hands the Webster Chess team has been ranked number one in Division College Chess and it has never relinquished its top billing.
Webster University, a hotbed of chess talents, with top players from all over the globe
Susan Polgar is a Hungarian-born grandmaster, famous for having been a child prodigy
and for being a pioneer for women in chess, and for being an advocate for chess in education.
The Webster team consists of GM Ray Robson, GM Wesley So, GM Anatoly Bykhovsky,
GM Le Quang Liem, GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez and GM Georg Meier (left to right)
It was natural that when their own university was sponsoring the event, the top Webster players would play in it. Hence, the Spice Cup 2014 kicked off with a 2700 player being the top seed: GM Le Quang Liem (2706). GM Ray Robson with a rating of 2628 was the second seed of the event.
The tournament was a nine round Swiss event with a time control of 90 minutes plus 30 second increment from move one. There were double rounds on three days, which made the tournament quite a hectic one. The best part about the tournament was that it boasted an extremely strong line-up of young players, like Vasif Durarbayli, Illya Nyzhnyk, Daniel Naroditsky, Kayden Troff and many more. There were just 50 players, but amongst them were twelve GMs, nine IMs and 16 FMs. Only a handful of players in the tournament were untitled. The average rating of the event was 2296. These statistics just show how strong the event was.
The tournament became extremely interesting as the young GM Kayden Troff moved into the sole lead at the end of the fifth round after he beat Ray Robson. It was a game where White gained a strong position from the opening and never let it go.
Born in 1998, 16-year-old Kayden Troff is currently one of the youngest GMs in the world
Kayden was in excellent form, as after Robson he played another sublime game to beat the top seeded Vietnamese player Le Quang Liem (2706). Especially noteworthy is the sequence Kayden played from move 19 to 23.
Le Quang Liem was in lacklustre form. Not only did he lose to Kayden in round six but also
to Ray Robson in the eighth. Yet a score of 6.0/9 was good enough to give him the fourth place.
It seemed as if Kayden would run away with the tournament. He had a point’s lead with 5.5/6 over the entire field and had beaten the top two seeds of the event. But as fate would have it he met his match in the form of a Ukranian prodigy: Illya Nyzhnyk (2613).
The all-important round seven clash between Kayden (5.5) and Illya (4.5)
After this win, Illya went onto win his eighth round against FM Razvan Preotu. At the same time the other leader, Kayden Troff, lost his game to GM Daniel Naroditsky. Going into the last round Illya (6.5) was paired against Robson (6.0), while Naroditsky (6.0) faced Vasif Durarbayli (5.5). Nyzhnyk made a quick draw against Robson. That meant that Daniel had a chance to catch the leader if he beat his opponent. And he was so close!
The youngest chess author in the history of chess, Daniel Naroditsky was quite close
to winning the SPICE CUP 2014 but finally had to be content with the third spot
The winner of the 2014 Spice Cup and $5000: Illya Nyzhnyk with his trophy
The two young American 2600s with Susan Polgar. Ray won $2500 and Daniel $1500.
What is particularly impressive is the fact that Illya won the tournament in spite of his loss in the first round. This shows how the 18-year-old has matured as a chess player. But, ChessBase has been following this young phenomenon ever since he made ripples in the chess world way back in 2007 when he won the B section of the Moscow Open.
Ten-year-old Illya Nyzhnyk in the year 2007...
... and giving a simultaneous exhibition. The nicest part in the video is Illya
carrying a little teddy bear around with him during the simul
At the age of eleven, Illya Nyzhnyk already had two GM norms under his belt and was all set to beat Karjakin’s record of becoming the youngest GM in the world. But he could achieve his GM title only at the age of 14 years and 3 months. All said and done, there is no denying that this youngster is a huge talent, and today, even at the age of 18 years, sporting an Elo of 2613 is quite impressive. The Ukranian prodigy now begins a new chapter in his life as he has taken admission in the Webster University in the United States.
| Rk. | SNo | Title | Name | FED | Rtg | TB1 |
| 1 | 5 | GM | Nyzhnyk Illya | UKR | 2613 | 7.0 |
| 2 | 3 | GM | Robson Ray | USA | 2628 | 6.5 |
| 6 | GM | Naroditsky Daniel | USA | 2601 | 6.5 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | Le Liem | VIE | 2706 | 6.0 |
| 4 | GM | Durarbayli Vasif | AZE | 2624 | 6.0 | |
| 7 | GM | Corrales Jimenez Fidel | USA | 2532 | 6.0 | |
| 8 | GM | Troff Kayden | USA | 2532 | 6.0 | |
| 11 | IM | Chandra Akshat | USA | 2488 | 6.0 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | Yermolinsky Alex | USA | 2516 | 5.5 |
| 10 | GM | Leon Hoyos Manuel | MEX | 2512 | 5.5 | |
| 12 | IM | Sevian Samuel | USA | 2484 | 5.5 | |
| 17 | IM | Kannappan Priyadharshan | IND | 2460 | 5.5 | |
| 22 | FM | Preotu Razvan | CAN | 2405 | 5.5 | |
| 14 | 14 | GM | Boros Denes | HUN | 2468 | 5.0 |
| 15 | IM | Ashwin Jayaram | IND | 2468 | 5.0 | |
| 18 | GM | Vera Reinaldo | CUB | 2449 | 5.0 | |
| 19 | IM | Kjartansson Guðmundur | ISL | 2439 | 5.0 | |
| 29 | FM | Bora Safal | USA | 2328 | 5.0 | |
| 32 | FM | Kavutskiy Kostya | USA | 2307 | 5.0 | |
| 20 | 13 | IM | Xiong Jeffrey | USA | 2470 | 4.5 |
| 20 | IM | Ruiz Sanches Orlen | CUB | 2429 | 4.5 | |
| 21 | IM | Recuero Guerra David | ESP | 2424 | 4.5 | |
| 23 | IM | Kiewra Keaton | USA | 2391 | 4.5 | |
| 24 | FM | Li Ruifeng | USA | 2365 | 4.5 | |
| 25 | FM | Banawa Joel Cholo B. | USA | 2350 | 4.5 | |
| 26 | FM | Tan Justin | AUS | 2346 | 4.5 | |
| 27 | IM | Neimer Vitaly | ISR | 2344 | 4.5 | |
| 37 | Santarius Erik | USA | 2296 | 4.5 | ||
| 38 | Checa Nicolas | USA | 2266 | 4.5 | ||
| 40 | FM | Liang Awonder | USA | 2253 | 4.5 | |
| 41 | WGM | Sharevich Anna | USA | 2249 | 4.5 |
The playing hall of the Spice Cup 2014
The dazzling winner’s trophy
Vasif Durarbayli (2624), the third seed of the event, finished fifth
FM Daniel Gurevich did something special: he was the only one who could inflict
a defeat on the eventual winner of the tournament, and that too in the first round
The norm winners: FM Safal Bora (IM norm), FM Preotu Razvan (GM norm)
and FM Kostya Kavutskiy (IM norm) together with Susan Polgar
America’s GM hopeful no. 1: IM Akshat Chandra, born in 1999, Elo 2488
America’s GM hopeful no. 2: IM Samuel Sevian, born in 2000, Elo 2484 and three GM norms
America’s GM hopeful no. 3: IM Jeffery Xiong, born in 2000, Elo 2470
Top women player: WGM Sharevich Anna, USA, 2249, with 4.5/9 points
Susan Polgar with Sarah Chiang, the second best female player in the tournament
Pictures from the official website. You can dowload all the games in PGN here
