2010 SPICE Spring Invitational Schedule

The 2010 SPICE Spring Invitational will take place in March (13-19) at the beautiful campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.

Here are the players:

1. International Master Irina Krush (USA) 2488 USCF – 2461 FIDE (2-time U.S. Women’s Champion and 2-time Olympiad medalist, one silver and one bronze. She has one grandmaster norm and she was a participant in the 1^st SPICE Cup in 2007.)

2. International Master Gergely Antal (Hungary) 2557 USCF – 2511 FIDE (Texas Tech Senior. He captured the first ever national championship for TTU last year. He has 2 grandmaster norms.)

3. International Master Davorin Kuljasevic (Croatia) 2585 USCF – 2552 FIDE (Texas Tech graduate student. He has 2 grandmaster norms.)

4. FIDE Master Eric Hansen (Canada) 2426 USCF – 2415 FIDE (He is the top rated junior in Canada. This is his first appearance at a SPICE event.)

5. International Master Gabor Papp (Hungary) 2578 USCF – 2542 FIDE (Texas Tech Senior. He has 1 grandmaster norm.)

6. Grandmaster Julio Becerra (USA) 2610 USCF – 2538 FIDE (He is one of the top players in the United States and a 2-time participant of the SPICE Cup.)

7. International Master Dean Ippolito (USA) 2548 USCF – 2466 FIDE (Former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship and 11-time All-American. He is one of the top chess coaches in the country. He was a participant in the 2009 SPICE Cup B group.)

8. Grandmaster Jesse Kraai (USA) 2550 USCF – 2508 FIDE (Former National Junior High and High School Champion. He won 5 consecutive state championship of New Mexico. He competed in multiple U.S. Championships. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Heidelberg in 2001. This is his first appearance at a SPICE event.)

9. FIDE Master Darwin Yang (USA) 2413 USCF – 2378 FIDE (He won the gold medal at the PanAm Youth under 10 championship and bronze medal at 2009 World Youth under 12 Championship. He has been ranked #1 in his age group in the U.S. for many years. This is his first appearance at a SPICE event and he is the youngest ever participant of a SPICE Invitational.)

10. Grandmaster Ben Finegold (USA) 2631 USCF – 2534 FIDE (He is a 2-time U.S. Open Champion, 2-time National Open Champion and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship. He earned his grandmaster title at the 2009 SPICE Cup B group.)

Average FIDE rating: 2490.5

A Grandmaster norm is expected to be 6 points (out of 9 games) and an International Master norm is expected to be 4 points (out of nine games).

Playing location: English Building – Room 201

Here is the tournament schedule:

Saturday, March 13

1:00 pm Opening ceremony

2:00 pm – 6:30 pm Round 1

Krush – Finegold

Antal – Yang

Kuljasevic – Kraai

Hansen – Ippolito

Papp – Becerra

Sunday, March 14

2:00 pm – 6:30 pm Round 2

Finegold – Becerra

Ippolito – Papp

Kraai – Hansen

Yang – Kuljasevic

Krush – Antal

Monday, March 15

9:00 am – 1:30 pm Round 3

Antal – Finegold

Kuljasevic – Krush

Hansen – Yang

Papp – Kraai

Becerra – Ippolito

3:30 pm – 8:00 pm Round 4

Finegold – Ippolito

Kraai – Becerra

Yang – Papp

Krush – Hansen

Antal – Kuljasevic

Tuesday, March 16

2:00 pm – 6:30 pm Round 5

Kuljasevic – Finegold

Hansen – Antal

Papp – Krush

Becerra – Yang

Ippolito – Kraai

Wednesday, March 17

9:00 am – 1:30 pm Round 6

Finegold – Kraai

Yang – Ippolito

Krush – Becerra

Antal – Papp

Kuljasevic – Hansen

3:30 pm – 8:00 pm Round 7

Hansen – Finegold

Papp – Kuljasevic

Becerra – Antal

Ippolito – Krush

Kraai – Yang

Thursday, March 18

2:00 pm – 6:30 pm Round 8

Finegold – Yang

Krush – Kraai

Antal – Ippolito

Kuljasevic – Becerra

Hansen – Papp

Friday, March 19

10:00 am – 2:30 pm Round 9

Papp – Finegold

Becerra – Hansen

Ippolito – Kuljasevic

Kraai – Antal

Yang – Krush

3:00 pm Closing ceremony

LIVE coverage on this blog and on www.MonRoi.com.