![Ray Robson Wins 2012 SPICE Cup Open](https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/news/93002.0314a6e4.668x375o.cf58c331386d@2x.jpg)
Ray Robson Wins 2012 SPICE Cup Open
![SPICE+Cup+Banner+Webster 2012.jpg](https://files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/tiny_mce/SonofPearl/SPICE+Cup+Banner+Webster%202012.jpg)
Webster University freshman GM Ray Robson has won the 2012 SPICE Cup Open. He scored 5 wins, 4 draws, and no losses to win with a score of 7/9.
The competition format was a 9 round Swiss featuring 13 GMs and a total field of 43 players.
There was also a first GM norm for IM Vitaly Neimer, and IM norms for FM Kayden Troff, FM Aman Hambleton and NM Nolan Hendrickson.
The time control was Game in 90 minutes with a 30 second increment from the start.
Ray Robson receiving his trophy from Susan Polgar
![Ray_Robson SPICE Cup Open Winner 2012 small.jpg](https://files.chesscomfiles.com/images_users/tiny_mce/SonofPearl/Ray_Robson%20SPICE%20Cup%20Open%20Winner%202012%20small.jpg)
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The 2012 SPICE Cup Open final standings
1 | GM Ray Robson | 2602 | 7 |
2 | GM Fidel Corrales Jimenez | 2605 | 6½ |
3 | GM Alejandro Ramirez | 2551 | 6 |
4 | GM Victor Mikhalevski | 2538 | 6 |
5 | IM Vitaly Neimer | 2384 | 6 |
6 | GM Manuel Leon Hoyos | 2603 | 5½ |
7 | GM Eugene Perelshteyn | 2528 | 5½ |
8 | GM Mesgen Amanov | 2507 | 5½ |
9 | GM Benjamin Finegold | 2493 | 5½ |
10 | GM Denes Boros | 2492 | 5½ |
11 | IM Darwin Yang | 2485 | 5½ |
12 | GM Andre Diamant | 2471 | 5½ |
13 | IM Leonid Gerzhoy | 2469 | 5½ |
14 | GM Yury Shulman | 2595 | 5 |
15 | GM Anatoly Bykhovsky | 2522 | 5 |
16 | GM Pascal Charbonneau | 2517 | 5 |
17 | IM Roberto Mogranzini | 2492 | 5 |
18 | IM Justin Sarkar | 2408 | 5 |
19 | FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy | 2377 | 5 |
20 | FM Aman Hambleton | 2348 | 5 |
21 | FM Kayden W Troff | 2312 | 5 |
22 | NM Nolan Hendrickson | 2146 | 5 |
23 | IM Priyadharshan Kannappan | 2407 | 4½ |
24 | WGM Veronika Schneider | 2313 | 4½ |
25 | FM Jouaquin B. Banawa | 2300 | 4½ |
26 | IM John Bartholomew | 2446 | 4 |
27 | IM Keaton Kiewra | 2442 | 4 |
28 | IM Jake Kleiman | 2377 | 4 |
29 | IM Levan Bregadze | 2366 | 4 |
30 | WGM Anna Sharevich | 2294 | 4 |
31 | FM Adarsh Jayakumar | 2290 | 4 |
32 | FM Konstantin Kavutskiy | 2287 | 4 |
33 | WIM Carla Heredia | 2188 | 4 |
34 | NM Spencer Finegold | 2081 | 4 |
35 | IM Martha L Fierro | 2387 | 3½ |
36 | IM Zhanibek Amanov | 2374 | 3 |
37 | WIM Inna Agrest | 2204 | 3 |
38 | Iskandar Aripov | 2155 | 3 |
39 | FM Hans Jung | 2150 | 2½ |
40 | Brian H Cassidy | 2098 | 1½ |
41 | Matt D Helfst | 1965 | 1½ |
42 | Tom Polgar-Shutzman | unr. | 1½ |
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The invitational 6-player double round-robin invitational SPICE Cup competition is also nearing its climax, with top seed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave leading on 5/8 with two rounds remaining.
The SPICE Cup standings after 8 rounds
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2705 | 5 |
Ding, Liren | 2702 | 4½ |
Le, Quang Liem | 2703 | 4 |
So, Wesley | 2677 | 4 |
Balogh, Csaba | 2664 | 3½ |
Meier, Georg | 2646 | 3 |
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Pictures and games from Susan Polgar's Chess Blog. More photos here.