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.

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

Links

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Topics: SPICE Cup
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.
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See also

Cori takes trophy at 2018 SPICE Cup

10/30/2018 – Jorge Cori shared first prize with Illia Nyzhnyk in St. Louis at the SPICE Cup, held from October 23rd to 28th. Cori then won the Armageddon game to claim top honours and the trophy! In all, 38 players, including 14 grandmasters competed for USD $16,550 in prizes in the 12th edition of the tournament created by GM Susan Polgar. Nyzhnyk previously won the title in 2014. | Photo: Paul Truong
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See also

Yermo's Travels: the 2017 Spice Cup

11/1/2017 – Recently, the 2017 Spice Cup was held in St. Louis, Missouri, and won by Lazaro Bruzon Batista, Yunieska Quesada, and Dariusz Swiercz. This traditional event is organised by Webster University, also home to the strongest collegiate team in the US. It brought players from around the globe, including a field rich in titled players. Among them was our correspondent Alex Yermolinsky, who performed well, and brings his report with some fantastic games and notes. Not to be missed! | Photo: Paul Truong
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Video

The Elephant Gambit

The Elephant Gambit (1.e4.e5 2.Nf3 d5!?) has never really been given the attention it deserves. It is a very useful surprise weapon. Let us list the advantages of playing this particular opening: 1) Shock value 2) It is very aggressive. Black can take over the initiative early. 3) Many tricky lines 4) Unorthodox. Black is basically taking the game to the opponent as early as move two. Not many openings do that! It's a perfect opening for young players and club players to adopt. Let Andrew Martin select a repertoire for you on this 60 mins, which, if used with discretion, will rack up the points. I am sure that you will enjoy this unusual tour of the Elephant Gambit.

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KevinC KevinC 10/25/2016 12:55
@ARK_ANGEL, the last move had to be Nf4 again repeating, and drawing, which due to the format was a win.
ARK_ANGEL ARK_ANGEL 10/25/2016 11:54
Please some one tell me in Armegaddon game why Robson lost. Black played QC4 then White plays Q take g pawn it's mate. ???
1