IM Dean Ippolito confirms SPICE Cup participation

This roster includes all updated September 2009 FIDE ratings!

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

https://chessdailynews.com/spice-cup-round-by-round-pairings/

Grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin, Russia, 2659, 18 years old (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, 26 years old, 2636 (2008 SPICE Cup Co-Champion and 2-time Olympiad Bronze Medalist)

Grandmaster Yuriy Kuzubov, Ukraine, 2636, 19 years old (2^nd ranked Ukrainian Junior and 8^th in the world)

Grandmaster Rauf Mamedov, Azerbaijan, 2626, 21 years old (5^th ranked Azerbaijani and member of the 2008 Azerbaijani Olympiad team)

Grandmaster Jon Ludwig Hammer, Norway, 2585, 19 years old (2^nd ranked Norwegian and member of the 2008 Norwegian Olympiad team)

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: 2503

https://chessdailynews.com/spice-cup-b-round-by-round-pairings/

International Master Gabor Papp, Hungary, 2562, 22 years old (Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders)

International Master Davorin Kuljasevic, Croatia, 2547, 22 years old, (Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders)

Grandmaster Eugene Perelshteyn, United States, 2542, 29 years old (2007 SPICE Cup Champion and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship)

International Master Ray Robson, United States, 2527, 14 years old (Reigning U.S. Junior Champion and winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship)

Grandmaster Andre Diamant, Brazil, 2526, 19 years old (Top rated Brazilian Junior and Reigning Brazilian National Champion)

International Master Ben Finegold, United States, 2515, 40 years old (2-time U.S. Open Champion, 2-time National Open Champion and former winner of the prestigious Samford fellowship)

International Master Gergely Antal, Hungary, 2486, 24 years old (Texas Tech student and member of the TTU Knight Raiders, 2009 National Collegiate Champion)

Grandmaster Vinay Bhat, United States, 2474, 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, 2388, 23 years old (Former National Elementary, Junior High, and High School Champion and 6-time All-American)

All ratings listed are from the September 2009 FIDE rating list.

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.