IM Oliver Barbosa joins SPICE CUP group B

IM Oliver Barbosa will be joining the SPICE Cup group B, a category 11 event with an average rating of 2501 according to Susan Polgar's blog. Barbosa, who has been enjoying much success in the US, capturing 20 titles to date will be seeded 9th in a group of 10 participants, 3 of them are grandmasters. GM Wesley So likewise will be competing in Group A. Wesley will be the second seed after Pashikian, Arman (2650) of Armenia was replaced by GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (2585) of Norway. The SPICE CUP chess festival will take place September 19-29.

A Group – Category 16 (6-player DRR) – Average rating: 2630.17 – Average age: 20

GM Dmitry Andreikin 2659 - Russia (#6 junior under 20 in the world - Russian Junior Champion) 19

GM Wesley So 2644 - Philippines (#7 junior under 20 in the world - #1 in the Philippines - member of the 2008 Filipino Olympiad team.) 15
GM Varuzhan Akobian 2636 - USA (#6 in the U.S. - 2008 SPICE Cup Co-Champion - 2-time Olympiad Bronze Medalist) 26
GM Yuriy Kuzubov 2631 - Ukraine (#8 junior under 20 in the world - #12 in Ukraine) 19

GM Rauf Mamedov 2626 - Azerbaijan (#5 player in Azerbaijan - member of the 2008 Azerbaijani Olympiad team) 21
GM Jon Ludvig Hammer 2585 - Norway (#2 in Norway behind Magnus Carlsen - member of the 2008 Norwegian Olympiad team) 19

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: 2501.7

IM Gabor Papp 2562 - HUN (GM norm - Texas Tech Student in 8/2009)
IM Davorin Kuljasevic 2547 - CRO (2 GM norms - Texas Tech Student in 8/2009)
GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2541 - USA (2007 SPICE Cup Champion)

IM Ray Robson 2527 - USA (2 GM norms - Winner of the 2009-2010 Samford Fellowship)

GM Andre Diamant 2526 - Brazil (2008 Brazilian Champion)
IM Ben Finegold 2513 - USA (2 GM norms)
IM Gergely Antal 2487 - HUN (2 GM norms - Texas Tech Student)

GM Amon Simutowe 2473 - ZAM (#1 player in Zambia, first African GM, board 1 of Zambian Olympiad team)

IM Oliver Barbosa 2454 - PHI (One of the top young Filipinos - Winner of 20 U.S. tournaments in the past year)

FM Danny Rensch 2386 - USA (2 IM norms)

All ratings listed are FIDE ratings.

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.