Daniel Rensch confirmed for SPICE Cup

The 2009 SPICE Cup A group has been finalized. 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 2643.5!

Confirmed players for group A (6-player DRR - Category 16):

GM Dmitry Andreikin 2659 - Russia (#6 junior under 20 in the world - Russian Junior Champion)
GM Pashikian Arman 2650 - Armenia (#4 player in Armenia, the country which won the last 2 Olympiad)
GM Wesley So 2646 - Philippines (#7 junior under 20 in the world - #1 in the Philippines)
GM Rauf Mamedov 2645 - Azerbaijan (#5 player in Azerbaijan)
GM Yuriy Kuzubov 2635 - Ukraine (#8 junior under 20 in the world - #12 in Ukraine)
GM Varuzhan Akobian 2626 - USA (#6 in the U.S. - 2008 SPICE Cup Co-Champion - 2-time Olympiad Bronze Medalist)

FM Danny Rensch of Arizona has confirmed his participation in the SPICE Cup B group. I was so impressed when I read a story about him. That is why I decided to invite Danny to give him an opportunity to earn his third and final IM norm.

B Group - Category 11-12 (10-player RR):

IM Gabor Papp 2558 - HUN (2 GM norms - Texas Tech Student in 8/2009)
IM Davorin Kuljasevic 2547 - CRO (2 GM norms - Texas Tech Student in 8/2009)
GM Eugene Perelshteyn 2537 - USA (2007 SPICE Cup Champion)
GM Andre Diamant 2519 - Brazil (2008 Brazilian Champion)
IM Ben Finegold 2513 - USA (2 GM norms)
IM Ray Robson 2496 - USA (1 GM norm - Winner of the 2009-2010 Samford Fellowship)
IM Gergely Antal 2479 - HUN (2 GM norms - Texas Tech Student)
FM Danny Rensch 2392 - 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 Texas Tech University, SPICE and the Susan Polgar Foundation.