The Wimbledon of Chess is coming to Texas Tech

The Wimbledon of Chess' coming to Texas Tech next weekend

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Sunday, September 13, 2009
Story last updated at 9/13/2009 - 2:06 am

The 2009 SPICE Cup International Invitational Tournament will bring a high-powered lineup of world-class young chess talent to Texas Tech. The competition is set to start beginning Saturday.

The tournament, in its third year, will once again set the record for the highest-rated international invitational round robin tournament in the United States. This is equivalent to bringing Wimbledon or the PGA championship to Texas Tech and Lubbock.

SPICE Cup will take place from Saturday through Sept. 29 at the Matador Room in the Student Union on the Tech campus.

The 16 top-notched players will be broken into two groups. The six-player A Group will meet in a category 16 event - up from category 15 in 2008. The players are all grandmasters with an average age of just 20 and an average rating is 2,631, based on the September 2009 World Chess Federation rating list.

The 10 players forming the B Group tournament, a Category 11 event, will be mostly grandmasters and international masters, with an average rating of 2,502. Three of the 10 players in this group are members of the Texas Tech Knight Raiders chess team.

• A Group players include:

Grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin, Russia, 2,659, age 18; top-rated Russian Junior and reigning Russian Junior Champion.

Grandmaster Wesley So, Philippines, 2644, 15 years old; top-rated Filipino and member of the 2008 Filipino Olympiad team.

Grandmaster Varuzhan Akobian, United States, 2,636, 26 years old; 2008 SPICE Cup Co-Champion and two-time Olympiad Bronze Medalist.

Grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov, Ukraine, 2,636, 19 years old; second ranked Ukrainian Junior and eighth in the world.

Grandmaster Rauf Mamedov, Azerbaijan, 2,626, 21 years old; fifth ranked Azerbaijani and member of the 2008 Azerbaijani Olympiad team.

Grandmaster Jon Ludwig Hammer, Norway, 2,585, 19 years old; second ranked Norwegian and member of the 2008 Norwegian Olympiad team.

• B Group Players include:

International Master Gabor Papp, Hungary, 2,562, 22 years old; Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders.

International Master Davorin Kuljasevic, Croatia, 2,547, 22 years old; Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders.

Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn, United States, 2,542, 29 years old; 2007 SPICE Cup Champion and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship.

International Master Ray Robson, United States, 2,527, 14 years old; reigning U.S. Junior Champion and winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship.

Grandmaster Andre Diamant, Brazil, 2,526, 19 years old; top-rated Brazilian Junior and Reigning Brazilian National Champion.

International Master Ben Finegold, United States, 2,515, 40 years old; two-time U.S. Open Champion and two-time National Open Champion.

International Master Gergely Antal, Hungary, 2,486, 24 years old; Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders, 2009 National Collegiate Champion.

Grandmaster Vinay Bhat, United States, 2,474, 25 years old; 2007 USCL MVP and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship.

International Master Dean Ippolito, United States, 2459, 30 years old, (Former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship and 11-time All-American)

FIDE Master Danny Rensch, United States, 2,388, 23 years old; former National Elementary, Junior High and High School Champion and six-time All-American.

Come by to watch world-class players compete in the most prestigious international invitational chess tournament in the United States. There is no admission fee.

Source: Avalanche Journal