GM Vinay Bhat to participate in SPICE Cup

A Group – Category 16 (6-player DRR) – Average rating: 2631 – Average age: 20

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will break the U.S. record by a big margin. Last year’s SPICE Cup was a category 15 event with average rating of 2605.5. This year’s average rating will be over 2630!

B Group – Category 11 (10-player RR) – Average rating: 2502

IM Gabor Papp 2562 – HUN (GM norm – Texas Tech Student) Age 22

IM Davorin Kuljasevic 2547 – CRO (2 GM norms – Texas Tech Student) Age 22

GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2541 – USA (2007 SPICE Cup Champion) Age 29

IM Ray Robson 2527 – USA (2 GM norms – Winner of the 2009-2010 Samford Fellowship) Age 14

GM Andre Diamant 2526 – Brazil (2008 Brazilian Champion) Age 19

IM Ben Finegold 2515 – USA (2 GM norms) Age 40

IM Gergely Antal 2486 – HUN (2 GM norms – Texas Tech Student) Age 24

GM Vinay Bhat 2474 – USA (Winner of the prestigious Samford Fellowship last year) Age 25

IM Oliver Barbosa 2454 – PHI (One of the top young Filipinos – Winner of 20 U.S. tournaments in the past year) Age 22

FM Danny Rensch 2388 – USA (2 IM norms) Age 23

All ratings listed are FIDE ratings.

SPICE Cup Open and SPICE Cup Scholastic Open are once again two of the events which are a part of the SPICE Cup Chess Festival.

Just as last year, the SPICE Cup will be held on campus at Texas Tech University and is co-organized by SPICE, Susan Polgar Foundation, and Texas Tech University.