Perelshteyn wins first SPICE Cup

With a score of 6.5 out of 9, Eugene Perelshteyn has won the first SPICE Cup, a tournament held at the Texas Tech University in Lubbock (Texas), United States. The tournament, which was a memorial to Samuel Reshevsky, was organized by Susan Polgar, chairwoman of the United States Chess Federation, and Paul Truong, Polgar’s husband. SPICE stands for “Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence” at the Texas Tech University.

The SPICE program was launched at the University in May 2007, and is headed by Susan Polgar & Paul Truong. Polgar serves as director of SPICE and coach of the Knight Raiders chess team while Truong is the institute’s business manager and assistant coach. The institute includes academic and outreach components and provides a forum for academic research on the game. Researchers across disciplines are allowed to study chess from angles as diverse as artificial intelligence, cognition and women’s studies. More info on SPICE can be found here.

From 9 till 16 November, the first SPICE Cup was held in the Matador Room of the Student Union Building. The round-robin event had 10 participants from countries including Poland, Hungary, Mexico, Russia and the U.S., with an average rating of 2527.

The final standings were:

 1. Perelshteyn, Eugene USA  2536    6,5
 2. Hernandez, Gilberto MEX  2568     6
 3. Beccera, Julio      USA  2568    5,5
 4. Miton, Kamil        POL  2628    5,5
 5. Hera, Imre          HUN  2544     5
 6. Krush, Irina        USA  2475     4
 7. Hoyos, Manuel Leon  MEX  2495    3,5
 8. Lugo, Blas          USA  2411     3
 9. Schneider, Dmitry   USA  2502     3
10. Gulko, Boris        USA  2571     3

Here some game fragments. First some tactical examples, and to finish with, to fine wins by the winner.

Reflection of the Texas Tech University

Another nice picture of the Uni

The Cup

Irinia Krush being interviewed, probably about the ever-interesting subject “women & chess”

Kamil Miton - Irina Krush

Imre Hera - Blas Lugo

Eugene Perelshteyn (with the concentration of a winner) - Imre Hera

Kamil Miton - Eugene Perelshteyn (is this really the same player as in the picture above?)

Susan Polgar gives the prize to the winner

Standing from left to right: Beccera, Hoyos, Hernandez, Hera, Gulko, Perelshteyn, Hera & Miton. Sitting: Krush & Schneider