The 5th edition of the SPICE Cup runs from 15-25 October in in Lubbock, Texas.
This year there are three round-robin tournaments taking place, but the headline event is the A Group, which is a 6-player double round-robin competition.
Top seed is the talented 20 year-old Vietnamese star Le Quang Liem, ranked #25 in the world.
Alexander Onischuk was a late withdrawal due to a family emergency, and is replaced by Sebastien Feller from France.
The time control is 40 moves in 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes to complete the game, with a 30 second increment from the start. The soccer style (3-1-0) scoring system is being used.
The rounds start at 14:00 local time in Texas (19:00 UTC) except the last round which is an hour earlier. There is one rest day on 20 October.
The full Group A line-up:
| Le Quang Liem |
VIE |
2717 |
| Leinier Dominguez |
CUB |
2710 |
| Sebastien Feller |
FRA |
2668 |
| Georg Meier |
GER |
2648 |
| Yury Shulman |
USA |
2608 |
| Ray Robson |
USA |
2583 |
The official tournament website is here.
The Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) was established in May 2007 at Texas Tech University with the aim of promoting 'college chess' as a bridge between scholastic and adult chess worlds. The institute also aims to provide scholarships, promote women's chess and support elite chess programs.