SPICE Cup round by round by GM Finegold

SPICE Cup: Round-by-Round
by GM Ben Finegold

The Final Day

The last day of the Spice Cup B and C groups was interesting, not only to see who would win, but also to see who would (and would not) achieve norms. In the B Group, there were two people with chances for GM norms (6 out of 9): Enrico Sevillano and Roberto Mogranzini. Roberto needed 1 out of 2, and in round 8 he lost spectacularly to Marc Arnold (of Kings vs. Queens fame!).

However, the norm was achieved in the last round when he was able to beat GM Mesgen Amanov (who is playing in our Thanksgiving Open next month). Enrico needed 2 out of 2, and although he beat Lev Milman in round 8, he lost to Mac Molner in the last round.

In the C group, Levon Altounian needed 1.5 out of 2 for a GM norm, and he had the difficult task of playing black versus Josh Friedel in round 8. It turned out not to be too difficult however, as they drew very quickly, and now Levon needed to beat me in the final round. Levon got an excellent position due to my terrible 16…Bxf3? idea, but was unable to find the strong 22.Qb3! Instead I drew comfortably, enabling me to win the event, and the norm was missed by half a point.

More here.