Four-way tie for first at SPICE Cup
The 2nd SPICE Cup has finished in a four-way tie for first: Pentala Harikrishna, Alexander Onischuk, Leonid Kritz and Varuzhan Akobian all ended on 5.5 out of 9. Harikrishna had the best tiebreak and received the cup (and a Swiss watch).The second SPICE Cup took place 19-28 September at the Texas Tech University located in Lubbock, Texas. We left the tournament after the sixth round (with that beautiful attack by Akobian), when Mikhalevski and Akobian shared the lead with 4.0/6, followed by Becerra, Harikrishna, Onischuk and Kritz who were on 3.5/6.In the seventh round Mikhalevski had to say goodbye to his lead after he lost a tough game with White against Kritz. In the same round Perelshteyn won a 113-move game (a queen's ending with 4 against 3 on one wing) against Stefansson while Miton beat Kaidanov, also in a long endgame.In the eight round the standings didn't change very much: four draws, and the only win for Hannes Stefansson, who had a very bad tournament in Texas.And so Akobian and Kritz were leading with 5 out of 9 going into the last round, where they had to play each other! Their game ended in a draw, but not a quick one, as we see so often. Onischuk and Harikrishna, who were sharing third place, both won their White games to join for a four-way tie.
| Round 1 Akobian 1-0 Perelshteyn Becerra 1/2 Onischuk Stefansson 1/2 Harikrishna Kaidanov 0-1 Kritz Mikhalevski 1-0 Miton | Round 2 Onischuk 1/2 Mikhalevski Harikrishna 1/2 Becerra Kritz 1/2 Perelshteyn Kaidanov 1-0 Stefansson Miton 1/2 Akobian | |
| Round 3 Stefansson 0-1 Kritz Akobian 1/2 Onischuk Mikhalevski 1/2 Harikrishna Becerra 1/2 Kaidanov Perelshteyn 1/2 Miton | Round 4 Onischuk 1-0 Perelshteyn Kritz 1/2 Miton Harikrishna 1/2 Akobian Kaidanov 0-1 Mikhalevski Stefansson 1/2 Becerra | |
| Round 5 Perelshteyn 1/2 Harikrishna Akobian 1/2 Kaidanov Miton 1/2 Onischuk Mihalevski 1/2 Stefansson Becerra 1-0 Kritz | Round 6 Becerra 1/2 Mikhalevski Kritz 1/2 Onischuk Harikrishna 1-0 Miton Stefansson 0-1 Akobian Kaidanov 1-0 Perelshteyn | |
| Round 7 Onischuk 1/2 Harikrishna Mikhalevski 0-1 Kritz Akobian 1/2 Becerra Miton 1-0 Kaidanov Perelshteyn 1-0 Stefansson | Round 8 Kritz 1/2 Harikrishna Mikhalevski 1/2 Akobian Kaidanov 1/2 Onischuk Becerra 1/2 Perelshteyn Stefansson 1-0 Miton | |
| Round 9 Akobian 1/2 Kritz Perelshteyn 1-0 Mikhalevski Miton 1/2 Becerra Onischuk 1-0 Stefansson Harikrishna 1-0 Kaidanov |
The four winners (Akobian, Harikrishna, Onischuk and Kritz) and Susan Polgar
All the people involved in the 2nd SPICE Cup
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!
Company Contact and News Accreditation:
Email: peter@chess.com FOR SUPPORT PLEASE USE chess.com/support!
Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827
Address: 877 E 1200 S #970397, Orem, UT 84097
