SPICE CUP 2009

Andreikin, Wesley So, and Akobian are the tournament favorites.

The SPICE Cup 2009 is going to take place 19-29 September at Texas Tech University, USA. It is one of the highly anticipated tournaments of the year featuring the best chess junior chess player battling out in a round robin format.
This year's edition is a powerhouse tournament as Group A section is fielded with 6 strong grandmaster with Andreikin, Wesley So, and Akobian at the helm.

Below is the roster of participants beginning with group A

GM Dmitry Andreikin 2659
Russia (#6 junior under 20 in the world - Russian Junior Champion) 19

GM Wesley So 2644
Philippines (#7 junior under 20 in the world - #1 in the Philippines - member of the 2008 Filipino Olympiad team.) 15

GM Varuzhan Akobian 2636
USA (#6 in the U.S. - 2008 SPICE Cup Co-Champion - 2-time Olympiad Bronze Medalist) 26

GM Yuriy Kuzubov 2636
Ukraine (#8 junior under 20 in the world - #12 in Ukraine) 19

GM Rauf Mamedov 2626
Azerbaijan (#5 player in Azerbaijan - member of the 2008 Azerbaijani Olympiad team) 21

GM Jon Ludvig Hammer 2585
Norway (#2 in Norway behind Magnus Carlsen - member of the 2008 Norwegian Olympiad team) 19

Noticeable here is the participation of top seed IM Gabor papp who sports a GM rating of 2562 and the kid superstar IM Ray Robson.

Here is the full list of the SPICE Cup 2009 B group:

IM Gabor Papp 2562
HUN (GM norm - Texas Tech Student)

IM Davorin Kuljasevic 2547
CRO (2 GM norms - Texas Tech Student)

GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2542
USA (2007 SPICE Cup Champion)

IM Ray Robson 2527
USA (2 GM norms - Winner of the 2009-2010 Samford Fellowship)

GM Andre Diamant 2526
Brazil (2008 Brazilian Champion)

IM Ben Finegold 2515
USA (2 GM norms)

IM Gergely Antal 2486
HUN (2 GM norms - Texas Tech Student)

GM Vinay Bhat 2474
USA (Former winner of the prestigious Samford Fellowship)

IM Oliver Barbosa 2451
PHI (One of the top young Filipinos - Winner of 20 U.S. tournaments in the past year)

FM Danny Rensch 2388
USA (2 IM norms)


more details of the Official site: susanpolgar.blogspot.com

Chess Realm will be closely following the game of the young filipino grandmaster who has been making waves both in the local and international circuit. Below is a featured video of Wesle So after his conquest of the prestigious Corus C tourney.