2011 SPICE Cup complete line up

The 5th annual SPICE Cup, the highest rated international RR invitational tournament in U.S. history, will take place next month in Lubbock, Texas.

There will be an additional section this year. In addition to the A group (6 players DRR category 17) andB group (10 player RR category 10), there will be a C group (10 player RR category 8).

The 2011 SPICE Cup A group will take place on October 15-25. The B and C group will take place onOctober 15-19. The FIDE Amateur Rated Open will take place on October 21-23. All sections will once again be held on the beautiful campus of Texas Tech University.

There are no entry fees to any player in three invitational groups (A, B, and C). My goal is to give players the opportunity to gain valuable experience and earn FIDE norms. We rely on donations and sponsorships from individuals and corporations to fund the SPICE Cup. Please contact me if you wish to be a donor or sponsor of the SPICE Cup.

Here are the rosters for the three groups (FIDE ratings are listed)

A Group (Category 17: 2655.83)

- No draw offer allowed prior to move 30
- A win = 3 points, a draw = 1 point, and loss = 0 point

1. GM Le Quang Liem 2717 VIE
2. GM Leinier Dominguez 2710 CUB
3. GM Alex Onischuk 2669
4. GM Georg Meier 2648 GER (Texas Tech Student)
5. GM Yury Shulman 2608
6. GM Ray Robson 2583

B Group (Category 10: 2483.80)

GM norm = 6.0

1. GM Mesgen Amanov 2541 TKM 
2. GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2534
3. GM Denes Boros 2508 HUN (Texas Tech Student)
4. IM Marc Arnold 2505
5. IM Enrico Sevillano 2490
6. IM Dean Ippolito 2477
7. IM Mackenzie Molner 2453
8. IM Lev Milman 2452 
9. IM Darwin Yang 2439
10. IM Roberto Mogranzini 2439 ITA

C Group (Category 8: 2442.00)

GM norm = 6.5 / IM norm = 5.0 (Herman); 4.5 (Aleskerov, Troff)

1. GM Eltaj Safarli 2627 AZE
2. GM Anatoly Bykhovsky 2521 ISR (Texas Tech Student)
3. GM Andre Diamant 2505 BRA (Texas Tech Student)
4. GM Ben Finegold 2489
5. IM John Bartholomew 2440
6. IM Levon Altounian 2429
7. SM Matthew Herman 2414
8. IM Vitaly Neimer 2373 ISR (Texas Tech Student)
9. SM Faik Aleskerov 2316 AZE (Texas Tech Student)
10. FM Kayden Troff 2306 

I would like to thank GM Safarli for his willingness to play in Group C to help balance the rating category, even though his rating is high enough to warrant a possible invitation in group A. There was a late emergency withdrawal which threw the rating balance off.