Here are the confirmed players so far:
USA – GM Onischuk, Alexander 2728 USCF / 2663 FIDE
USA – GM Akobian, Varuzhan 2666 USCF / 2612 FIDE
USA – GM Kaidanov, Gregory 2697 USCF / 2611 FIDE
USA – GM Becerra, Julio 2644 USCF / 2601 FIDE
GER – GM Kritz, Leonid 2667 USCF / 2600 FIDE
ISR – GM Mikhalevski, Victor 2679 USCF / 2597 FIDE
ISL – GM Stefansson, Hannes 2597 USCF / 2583 FIDE
POL – GM Miton, Kamil 2703 USCF / 2581 FIDE
USA – GM Perelshteyn, Eugene 2623 USCF / 2549 FIDE (Defending Champion)
The 3 latest additions to the 2008 SPICE Cup are: GM Julio Becerra of Miami, GM Victor Mikhalevski of Israel, and GM Hannes Stefansson of Iceland.
This will be a category 15 event (Approximately 2600+ FIDE and 2670+ USCF) which is the highest rated 10-player International RR tournament in U.S. history. The last invitation will go out right after the July 1, 2008 FIDE rating list is published.
The SPICE Cup Invitational will be the main attraction of the annual SPICE Cup Festival. Other activities include the Texas Women’s Open Championship, SPICE Cup Grand Prix, SPICE Cup Scholastic, SPICE Cup Pro-Am event, etc. Our goal is to add a group B next year and even more activities.
I was hoping to see Jesse Krai play.
You should invite Yuri Shulman, new U.S. Champ.
Why Shulman? He needs to rest on his glorifical wings.
You should invite an IM with a 2500 + rating as it would give him / her a chance to get a GM norm. Irina Krush would be my recommendation.
Invite Garry Kasparov.
Invite Bozo the Clown.
Invite Palestine.