The 2011 SPICE Cup will take place on October 15 – October 25, 2011 at the beautiful campus of Texas Tech University. This prestigious event is growing bigger and stronger every year. Right now, the event is expected to be at least high category 17 or category 18, which is by far the highest rated international invitational tournament in U.S. history to date.

To make the tournament a lot more exciting, the SPICE Cup committee has unanimously voted to adapt the 2010 rules for the A group:

– No draw offer allowed prior to move 30
– A win = 3 points, a draw = 1 point, and loss = 0 point

Super GM Le Quang Liem, the #1 player from Vietnam, and soon to be the #2 junior in the world (July 2011 list behind Caruana) has confirmed his participation in the 2011 SPICE Cup A group.

Liem’s new rating is expected to be 2715. Some of his greatest accomplishments to date include:

– 1st place at World Youth Under 14 Championship
– 2-time winner of the world’s strongest open tournament Aeroflot
– 1st place tie at Moscow Open
– 1st place tie at Capablanca Memorial (category 19)
– 1st place at Dragon Capital Open
– 2nd place at super category 20 Dortmund (ahead of Kramnik, Leko, Mamedyarov, and Naiditsch), etc.

2010 SPICE Cup defending and 2-time champion GM Alex Onischuk (USA), and 2010 runner-up GM Georg Meier (GER) have also confirmed their return.

In addition, a 2700+ rated former World Champion has also accepted his invitation. A formal announcement will be announced soon.

The invitations for the final 2 spots have been sent out. I expect to have the final confirmation soon.

I am working on having a strong B and C group with IM and GM norm possibilities.

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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