Strongest International RR event in TX since 1972

November 7, 2007

Texas Tech To Host World-Class International Chess Tournament

Prestigious event is strongest international invitational round-robin held in Texas since 1972 and the United States in the past decade.

Written by Cory Chandler

Texas Tech University’s Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) will host an invitational tournament Nov. 9-16 in the Matador Room of the Student Union Building.

The 2007 SPICE Cup International Invitational Chess Tournament, held in memory of grandmaster Samuel Reshevsky, is the first international tournament at Texas Tech organized by chess giant Susan Polgar, director of SPICE.

The round-robin event will pit 10 internationally acclaimed chess players – hailing from countries including Poland, Hungary, Mexico, Russia and the U.S. – against each other through nine rounds of play over eight days.

Participants have an average rating of 2,527 – well above the 2,400 required to earn the U.S. Chess Federation’s highest class designation of senior master.

“This prestigious tournament will be one of the strongest international invitational round-robin tournaments held in Texas since 1972 and the United States in the past decade,” Polgar said.

Children from a number of Lubbock schools are invited to attend the event each day to participate in special activities and raffles. SPICE was created in part as a tool for chess education and outreach.

All games will be broadcast live on http://www.monroi.com/.

The tournament also features an open section, slated for Saturday and Sunday, that will provide local chess aficionados an opportunity to compete for $500 in prizes. The open tournament will consist of three rounds at 10 a.m., 1p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and two additional rounds at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday.

Polgar is director of SPICE and coach of the Knight Raiders chess team. She has won four women’s world chess championships, five Olympic gold medals and is the only world champion in history to win the triple-crown (classical, blitz and rapid women’s world championships).

Reshevsky was an American chess grandmaster and author from what is now Poland who won the U.S. Chess Championship six times.
For advance registration in the open section contact Hal Karlsson at (806) 742-3130.

Source: TT Today