This year’s SPICE Cup is the third such tournament in a row. The first
cup took place in the fall of 2007 – just a few months after the Susan
Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) was created at Texas Tech University
in Lubbock, Texas. The following year the second SPICE Cup was organised and
featured all grandmasters. The current SPICE Cup features two groups: an A group,
consisting of an extremely talented and young group of grandmasters who are
playing a double-round robin event, and a B group, consisting of three grandmasters,
six International Maters and one FIDE Master. Several of the IMs are one norm
short of the GM title, so there will be some battles and no easy draws in this
section!
The SPICE cup tournaments were created to set a new standard for invitational
chess events in the US. They are among the strongest tournaments in this country;
in fact, the A group for the current event is the strongest in US history. Participants
are carefully selected by GM Susan Polgar – director of SPICE –
to ensure that we have the highest quality of sportsmanship and lively, yet
friendly, competition. The university also uses these tournaments to showcase
itself and its many programs.
Dr. Hal Karlsson
Standings in the A Group
The category of this event is 16, with an average rating of 2631 (and an
average age of 20!)
Standings in the B Group
The average rating here is 2501 = category 11. In order to gain a GM norm
players have to score 5.76 points. So, if our calculations are right, Ray Robson
needs to win both his final games to clinch the title. Very tough, but not impossible.
Picture Gallery
At fifteen years of age, Wesley So is not far removed from his attainment of
the grandmaster title at the age of 14 years, 1 month and 28 days, which made
him the seventh youngest player in history to earn it. Having already achieved
the highest rating of any Filipino player in history, So's pace can only be
appreciated in an international context, where he currently stands as the seventh-ranked
junior player in the world, and the youngest player ever to break the 2600 barrier.
It is little wonder his father seems so proud.
Grandmaster Wesley So, Philippines, 2644, member of the 2008 Filipino Olympiad
team
Here we see GMs Jon Ludvig Hammer and Dmitry Andreykin shake hands at the start
of their game. As the top seed in the A Group, with a rating of 2659, Andreykin
has the privilege (and added pressure) of playing in the presence of the championship
trophies. Of course, as reigning Russian Junior Champion, he is surely up to
the task. Hammer is no slouch, however, ranking as the second-best player in
his homeland Norway (no prize for guessing who is the strongest).
Fourth-seed and current American Junior Champion, IM Ray Robson, faces off
against third-seeded GM Eugene Perelshteyn, the 2000 US Junior Champion, in
a marquee match-up of the B Group. Despite significant successes of his own,
Perelshteyn had yet to achieve the same accomplishments attributable to the
younger player when he was Robson's age. That said, Perelshteyn won the 2007
edition of SPICE, leaving Robson the player with something to prove in this
tournament.
Top seed in the B Group, IM Gabor Papp, 2562, offered his opponent the opportunity
to give peace a chance prior to the start of the round. The vivacious 22-year-old
Hungarian is currently attending Texas Tech University, this year's tournament
host.
As bottom seed in the B Group, with a rating of 2388, FM Danny Rensch prays
for inspiration prior to commencing his game. Despite the odds against him,
this 23-year-old has some reasonably impressive titles to his credit, including
that of former National High School Champion of the United States.
Here, IM Ben Finegold, 2515, prepares for an important encounter...
... and springs the novelty on a 14-year-old IM Ray Robson
At forty years of age, Finegold is the oldest competitor in this tournament
(by ten years!), but he refuses to let age hold back his play, or his sense
of humour. As a two-time US Open and National Open Champion, he can hardly be
said to be fighting above his weight class. He is also a two-time National Open
Champion and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship). Ben has two
GM norms.
IM Ray Robson, United States, 2527, is 14 years old, reigning U.S. Junior Champion
and winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship, with two GM norms. Ray would
be the youngest American GM in history if he can earn final GM norm here.
With the competitors of this tournament having an average age of approximately
23 years of age, who can blame these ladies for wanting to witness first-hand
one of the most presitigious events on the American chess calendar?
Links
The 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 the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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