SPICE Cup won by Samuel Sevian
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.
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)
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 |
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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