Le Quang Liem Wins 5th SPICE Cup
The 20 year-old Vietnamese #1 Le Quang Liem has won the 5th SPICE Cup in Lubbock, Texas (15-25 October).
Le lived up to his top seed status by dramatically winning his last round game against leader Leinier Dominguez to clinch a last-gasp victory in the headlining A Group event.
At the SPICE Cup this year there were three round-robin tournaments taking place, with the A Group being a 6-player double round-robin, and the B and C Groups being 10-player single round robins.
Anatoly Bykhovsky won the B Group and Ben Finegold won the C Group.
The time control was 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 was also used in the A Group only.
Le profited from a Dominguez blunder in the final round
The A Group with Susan Polgar (left to right): Shulman, Feller, Le, Robson, Dominguez, Meier
The final standings in the A Group:
| Le, Quang Liem | VIE | 2717 | * | * | 0 | 3 |
3 |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
3 |
17 |
| Dominguez Perez, Leinier | CUB | 2710 | 3 |
0 | * | * | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Meier, Georg | GER | 2648 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | * | * | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 15 |
| Robson, Ray | USA | 2583 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | * | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Feller, Sebastien | FRA | 2668 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | * | * | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Shulman, Yuri | USA | 2608 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | * | * | 7 |
The final standings in the B Group:
| Bykhovsky, Anatoly | ISR | 2521 | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6½ |
| Mogranzini, Roberto | ITA | 2439 | 0 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 6 |
| Molner, Mackenzie | USA | 2453 | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 5 |
| Yang, Darwin | USA | 2439 | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Sevillano, Enrico | USA | 2490 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Arnold, Marc | USA | 2505 | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| Amanov, Mesgen | TKM | 2541 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| Ippolito, Dean | USA | 2477 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 0 | * | 0 | 1 | 3½ |
| Boros, Denes | HUN | 2508 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | * | ½ | 3½ |
| Milman, Lev | USA | 2452 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | * | 2½ |
The final standings in the C Group:
| Finegold, Benjamin | USA | 2489 | * | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6½ |
| Friedel, Joshua E | USA | 2518 | 1 | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 6 |
| Altounian, Levon | USA | 2429 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Diamant, Andre | BRA | 2505 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4½ |
| Neimer, Vitaly | ISR | 2373 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4½ |
| Bartholomew, John | USA | 2440 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 4½ |
| Aleskerov, Faik | AZE | 2316 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4½ |
| Perelshteyn, Eugene | USA | 2534 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | 4 |
| Herman, Matthew J | USA | 2414 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 2½ |
| Troff, Kayden W | USA | 2306 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | 2 |
More photos from tournament can be found here and here. Official website coverage was at the Susan Polgar chess blog.
