SPICE Cup won by Samuel Sevian

by Albert Silver
10/24/2016 – Held in St. Louis, Missouri, the 2016 SPICE Cup was held from Oct 17-22 with a strong and attractive field of players that included Le Quang Liem (2723 FIDE) as top seed, as well as a number of GMs and top US juniors such as Jeffery Xiong, Samuel Sevian, and more. The event saw a strong fight right to the end when Sevian and Robson were left equal first which was decided by a tiebreak game won by Sevian. Report, photos, and games.
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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.

Click for the solution

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

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 There has been a strong surge in the Guuoco Piano, AKA Italian in recent years, now showing up in the repertoires of of players going all the way to th top of the Elo ladder. The reason, aside from a very flexible opening with plenty of pieces, is that it allows White to play 1.e4 and forcibly avoid any possibility of a Berlin. d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.a4 This is not the most popular continuation here, with Bb3 and Nbd2 being the favorites. One of the problems with a4 is that it may become a wasted tempo depending on how the game develops. a5 8.Bg5 h6 8...Bb6 9.Nbd2 Ne7 10.Nh4 Bg4 11.Ndf3 d5 12.exd5 Nexd5 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 c6 15.Nf5 Qd7 16.Bxd5 Nxd5 17.Qg4 Qe6 18.Be7 g6 19.Nh6+ 1-0 (19) Amin,B (2661) -Makoto,R (2405) Baku 2016 9.Bh4 Qe7 The idea behind ...Qe7 is usually to play Be6 and recapture with the queen, unpinning the knight on f6, or alternately to free the d8 square for Nd8-Be6 and recapture with the knight where it eyes f4 and g5. 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Re1 Ba7 12.Bb5 g5 13.Nxg5?! Objectively this is a dubious move as White's pieces aren't well placed to exploit the pin or attack, but Robson has always been a very dynamic player, prefering active options than a cagey battle of maneuvers. His resourcefulness more often than not allows him to get away with such decisions. hxg5 14.Bxg5 Kg7? Black goes astray almost immediately, perhaps underestimating the trouble he can get into, or playing a little too automatically. 14...Bg4! was strongest. The pawn on f2 is pinned by the bishop on a7 therefore 15.Nf3 and now after Nd8 16.h3 Bh5 followed by Ne6 and Black is clearly better. 15.d4 Rg8 15...exd4? is unplayable due to 16.e5! Nxe5 17.Ne4! and White's pressure on f6 and kingside will become unpleasant to the extreme. 16.Qf3 Bd7 17.Nf1 Kg6 18.h4 Bg4 19.Qg3 Kh7 20.Ne3 The tempting 20.Bxc6 is no good due to bxc6 21.Qxg4 Nxg4 22.Bxe7 exd4! and Black is fine. 20...Bh5 21.f4? A blunder based on a miscalculation. Suddenly the tables have turned. 21.Qh2! Removing the queen from the pin on the g-file and threatening Nd5. Rg6 22.Nd5 Qd8 23.Qh3± The immediate 21.Nd5? allows Nxd5! due to the pin. If 22.Bxe7 Rxg3! 23.exd5 Nxe7 24.fxg3 Nxd5-+ 21...exd4 22.Nd5 dxc3+ 23.Kh1 Qe6 24.Nxc7 24.Nxf6+ Qxf6! 25.Bxf6 Rxg3 24...Qg4 25.Qxc3 Bd4 26.Qd3 Rxg5 27.hxg5 Rh8 28.Bxc6 bxc6 29.gxf6 Qh4+? 29...Bf2! was best, with the idea of mates on the h-file. For example 30.Qh3 Kg8 30.Qh3 Qxf6? A losing blunder by Black now. He was possibly so focused on the pins and mates on the h-file that he never considered 31.g4! was even possible. Kg6 31...Kg7 32.gxh5 32.Rg1! This might lose the exchange to Bxg1 33.Rxg1 but now White is the one with nasty discovered checks that Black cannot avoid. Qxf4 34.gxh5+ Kh6 35.Re1 Rg8 36.Qe3 Qxe3 37.Rxe3 Rc8 38.Na6 Ra8 39.e5 Rxa6 40.exd6 c5 41.Rd3 Ra8 42.Rd5 Rd8 43.d7 f5 44.Kg2 Kxh5 45.Rxf5+ Kg4 46.Rd5 Kf4 47.Kf2 Ke4 48.Rd1 Kf4 49.Ke2 Ke4 50.Rd3 c4 51.Rd2 Kf4 52.Rd4+ Kf5 53.Kf3 Ke5 54.Ke3 Ke6 55.Ke4 Ke7 56.Ke5 Rxd7 57.Rxd7+ Kxd7 58.Kd5 Kc7 59.Kxc4 Kc6 60.b3 Kb6 61.Kd5 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Robson,R2670Rosen,E23821–02016C54SPICE Cup Open 20165.6

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)

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 0-0 6.0-0 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
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Robson,R2670Sevian,S25910–12016C53SPICE Cup Open TB 20161

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

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Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.

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