No, you are NOT misreading it. We have begun to prepare for the 2009 SPICE Cup Festival!
The 2009 SPICE Cup International Invitational is planned for around the beginning of November next year. It is also planned to be between Category 16-17, and maybe even higher.
The winner (either clear first or first on tie-breaks) of the 2008 SPICE Cup will receive an automatic invitation to defend his title. 14-year old GM Wesley So (2610) of the Philippines has accepted his invitation for the 2009 SPICE Cup.
A SPICE Cup B Group is also planned for next year, in addition to the SPICE Cup Open Grand Prix, SPICE Scholastic Cup, and hopefully the Texas Women’s Open Championship again.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Kudos, Susan. It is great to see high-level round-robin invitationals in the U.S. once again.
Why does this tournament not get any support from the USCF EB? Isn’t the mission of the USCF to promote chess?
What support do you think is needed? Susan/Paul seem to be doing just fine on it. Besides, since tehy are on the EB it IS getting support from the EB.
Does the USCF organize strong invitational tournaments? I only tournaments by Sevan Muradian and the Polgar / Truong team.
SO excited to see Wesley perform in high level competition. Best of luck to you Wesley So.