Kostya at the 2016 Spice Cup

GMs Sam Sevian and Ray Robson, the Spice Cup Co-Champions. Photo Paul Truong

A few weeks ago I traveled to Saint Louis for the annually held SPICE Cup Open, a tournament organized by Susan Polgar and Paul Truong, who also run the wildly successful Webster University Chess Team. The ‘Spice Cup’ provides an excellent opportunity for ambitious players to earn International and Grandmaster norms and always boasts a densely packed, powerful field of chess players, in addition to a slew of talented juniors. This event is easily one of my favorite tournaments year-round. In addition to being professionally organized and run, I’ve also had some real success at the Spice Cup in previous years. This was the tournament where I had my first IM performance (2450) back in 2013 and where I earned my first IM Norm in 2014. In 2015 I had also done well, falling short of the norm but winning the U2400 prize and gaining approximately 20 rating points. So naturally for the 2016 edition of the event I had some solid expectations for my performance. I had just come back from the Chess.com Isle of Man International a week prior, where I needed a draw in the final round for that elusive norm but ended up losing to GM Babu Lalith. The tournament heated up quickly with quite a few upsets already in the first round. I was paired with GM Timur Gareev, who I’ve known for several years now but never faced in a classical game. After my 13th move I got up from the board as Timur was spending quite a bit of time. Then when I came back I noticed he made a move that I thought blundered his queen. Well, he disagreed!

GM Timur Gareev, moments before his sparkling queen sacrifice. Photo Paul Truong

[pgn][Event "2016 Spice Cup"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.10.17"] [Round "1"] [White "Gareev, Timur"] [Black "Kavutskiy, Kostya"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E73"] [WhiteElo "2615"] [BlackElo "2332"] [Annotator "Kavutskiy,Kostya"] [PlyCount "53"] [EventDate "2016.10.20"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 Na6 7. f4 c6 8. Bf3 Nc7 9. Nge2 Qe8 10. O-O h6 11. Bh4 e5 12. dxe5 dxe5 13. Qd6 Qd7 14. Qxe5 $3 { This move seemingly allows Black to trap White's queen with Nfd5, but in the resulting position White's pieces will dominate Black's entire army. Something I failed to appreciate until it was too late!} Nfd5 15. exd5 Bxe5 16. fxe5 {We can safely call this a "positional queen sacrifice". White is not giving mate anytime soon, but wants to put his rook on d1, knight on e4 and slowly suffocate Black to death.} Na6 {Not best. For those curious, the computer gives an evalution of "+0.5", meaning White is better by about half a pawn. In practice this position is close to lost, since all of White's moves are straightforward, whereas Black has to literally play like an engine to survive. } 17. Ne4 Qc7 18. d6 Qa5 19. d7 Bxd7 20. Nf6+ Kh8 21. Nxd7 Rfd8 ({In hindsight I should have played} 21... Rfe8 {, but it wouldn't make a huge difference at this point.}) 22. Rad1 $1 {For the rest of the game Timur patently refuses to collect any more material, going after my king instead.} Re8 23. Be1 Qxa2 24. Bc3 Re6 25. Bg4 Qxc4 26. Rd4 Qb5 27. Rxf7 {If I move my rook, e5-e6 will open the bishop on c3. Also Nf6+Rh7 is a thing so it felt quite appropriate to resign!} 1-0[/pgn]

NM Aaron Grabinsky, winner of the top U2400 prize, with Mike Kummer and GM Susan Polgar. Photo Paul Truong

On the board next to us was NM Aaron Grabinsky, one of Webster University’s newest recruits, facing a fellow teammate, GM Vasif Durarbayli. Their game looked pretty normal and being so consumed with my own game I didn’t pay much attention to their struggle. Then at one point I looked over and saw that Vasif had also sacrificed his queen for two pieces! Though this one was less successful:

[pgn][Event "SPICE Cup"] [Date "2016.10.17"] [Round "1.6"] [White "Grabinsky, Aaron"] [Black "Durarbayli, Vasif"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2330"] [BlackElo "2608"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackTeam "Azerbaijan"] [WhiteTeamCountry "USA"] [BlackTeamCountry "AZE"] [WhiteClock "0:43:47"] [BlackClock "0:20:07"]1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. e3 O-O 5. Be2 d6 6. h3 b6 7. O-O Bb7 8. c4 c5 9. Qb3 cxd4 10. exd4 Nc6 11. Nc3 Rc8 12. d5 Na5 13. Qb4 Ba6 14. Nd2 Qd7 15. Rac1 Nh5 16. Bg4 Qxg4 17. hxg4 Nxf4 18. b3 Nd3 19. Qa3 Bd4 20. Rc2 Bc5 21. Qa4 Nb4 22. Rb2 Nd3 23. Rbb1 Bb4 24. Nde4 f5 25. gxf5 gxf5 26. Rbd1 fxe4 27. Rxd3 exd3 28. Qxb4 Nb7 29. Qa3 Nc5 30. b4 Bxc4 31. bxc5 Rxc5 32. Rd1 1-0[/pgn]

IM Awonder Liang vs. Kostya Kavutskiy. Photo Paul Truong

In Round 2 I came back with a win and was paired against IM Awonder Liang in Round 3. A nice pawn sacrifice turned the game into a highly interesting struggle where I kept losing track of the actual/potential material count on the board!

[pgn][Event "2016 Spice Cup"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.10.18"] [Round "3"] [White "Liang, Awonder"] [Black "Kavutskiy, Kostya"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A26"] [WhiteElo "2478"] [BlackElo "2332"] [Annotator "Kavutskiy,Kostya"] [PlyCount "73"] [EventDate "2016.10.20"]1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. O-O O-O 5. c4 d6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3 e5 8. Rb1 a5 9. a3 h6 10. Nd2 Ne7 11. e4 c6 12. Nf3 Nh7 13. d4 f5 14. dxe5 dxe5 15. Qxd8 Rxd8 16. Be3 Be6 17. b3 Nf8 18. Na4 Nd7 19. Nh4 f4 $1 {I was quite happy to find this pawn sacrifice, leading to all of White's pieces being off-kilter.} 20. gxf4 exf4 21. Bxf4 b5 $1 (21... g5 {doesn't work in view of} 22. Bd6 Nc8 23. Bc7 $16 {and White saves the knight.}) 22. Nb2 (22. cxb5 cxb5 23. Bd6 bxa4 24. Bxe7 Re8 25. Bd6 g5 26. Nf5 axb3 {and Black is better.}) 22... Nc5 { White's queenside is under tremendous pressure.} 23. cxb5 $5 {This leads to some interesting material imbalances.} (23. b4 axb4 24. axb4 Na4 25. Nxa4 bxa4 $17 {and the a-pawn will cost White some serious material.}) 23... Bxb2 24. b4 {At this point Awonder realized he was in serious trouble and looks to create difficult complications.} (24. Rxb2 Nd3 25. Bc7 Nxb2 26. b6 $1 Re8 $17 {Black is currently up a rook, but will have to give back the exchange soon due to White's b-pawn. Then Black will be up...a piece? It gets hard to keep track!}) 24... axb4 25. axb4 Nd3 26. Bxh6 $5 {Now things are really getting messy!} (26. Bc7 cxb5 27. Bxd8 Rxd8 28. Rfd1 Bf6 $17 {Two pieces for a rook and pawn but White's minors are pretty bad and the b4-pawn is an easy target. Close to winning in my eyes.}) 26... cxb5 {Probably best. Now I've got a knight for two pawns and as soon as I can coordinate, I should win.} ({I really wanted to play } 26... Bf6 $5 {but wasn't sure about} 27. bxc6 (27. Nxg6 Nxg6 28. bxc6 Kf7 $19 {With two knights versus five (!) pawns, but the threat of Rg8 and Nh4/f4 gives Black the initiative as well against White's king.}) 27... Bxh4 28. b5 $19 {Black is winning with two knights against four pawns, but it's unclear how much material I'll have to give back for White's powerful queenside passers. Then with just one g6 pawn it may be hard to win later on.}) 27. Bg5 Re8 ({I should have preferred} 27... Kf7 {, not fearing} 28. Bxe7 Kxe7 29. Nxg6+ Kf6 30. Nh4 Ra2 $19 {as again material is approximately equal, but White's pieces are really bad, to put it mildly!}) 28. e5 Rac8 $2 (28... Ra3 { was my original intention and while my opponent was thinking I forgot that Be4 was his main threat... Now} 29. Be4 Bxe5 $19 {and Black is well on their way to taking the b-pawn and winning the game.}) 29. Be4 $1 {Whoops, now Black loses his extra piece. Fortunately I can get back my two pawns for it!} Nxf2 30. Kxf2 Bxe5 31. Nf3 Bb8 32. Rfe1 Nf5 33. Rbd1 Rf8 34. Bb7 Rc2+ 35. Rd2 Rxd2+ 36. Bxd2 Bc4 37. Kg2 {Although there's a ton of pieces left on the board, if either side gets too frisky they could leave their king vulnerable to a counterattack, so a draw was agreed.} 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

[pgn][Event "2016 Spice Cup"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.10.20"] [Round "6"] [White "Kavutskiy, Kostya"] [Black "Sukandar, Irene"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2332"] [BlackElo "2432"] [Annotator "Kavutskiy,Kostya"] [PlyCount "91"] [EventDate "2016.10.20"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxd2+ 6. Qxd2 Ba6 7. b3 d5 8. Bg2 Nbd7 9. cxd5 exd5 10. O-O O-O 11. Nc3 Re8 12. Qb2 Nf8 13. Rfd1 Ng6 14. e3 Qe7 15. Rac1 Rad8 16. b4 h5 17. h4 Ng4 18. b5 Bb7 19. Qc2 a6 20. a4 a5 21. Ne2 Rd7 22. Rd3 Qf6 23. Rc3 Ree7 24. Nf4 Nxf4 25. exf4 g6 26. Ne5 Nxe5 27. fxe5 Qe6 28. Rf3 Rd8 29. Rf6 Qg4 30. Rf4 Qd7 31. Bf3 $6 Rc8 32. g4 c5 33. bxc6 Rxc6 34. Qd2 Rxc1+ 35. Qxc1 hxg4 36. Bxg4 Qc7 37. Qd2 Bc8 38. h5 gxh5 39. Bxh5 Kf8 40. Rf6 Ke8 41. Qh6 Bh3 42. Qh8+ Kd7 43. Rd6+ Qxd6 44. exd6 Kxd6 45. Qd8+ Rd7 46. Qxb6+ 1-0[/pgn]

IM Irene Sukandar, winner of the Top Female Prize, with Mike Kummer and GM Susan Polgar. Photo Paul Truong

Now with 3.5/6 I was having a good performance, but things quickly went sour! I lost to (soon to be GM) Akshat Chandra pretty quickly in Round 7 and my “reward” was to be paired against GM Kayden Troff in Round 8! After losing that one too, I finished the tournament with a draw against FM Josh Colas, another one of Webster’s 2016 recruits.

FMs Josh Colas and Justus WIlliams, winners of the 2nd-3rd U2400 prizes, with Mike Kummer and GM Susan Polgar. Photo Paul Truong

So with 4.0/9 as my final score and a rating loss of a few points, I can be both disappointed with my performance overall and happy with the experience I gained. It seems like I can play with IMs on equal footing but against GMs I clearly have a lot to work on. And so I will! The tournament was won by GMs Ray Robson and Sam Sevian, who shared first place with 6.5/9. A blitz armageddon game was then held for the first place trophy--I won’t spoil the winner since a video of the game, as well as many more videos from the event can be found on Susan Polgar’s Facebook page. Also, more photos by Paul Truong can be viewed here, and lastly, the full tournament results can be found here.

GM Sam Sevian. Photo Paul Truong

My quest for the final norm continues at the upcoming Saint Louis Autumn Invitational, a 10 player round-robin (with a GM and IM section) held by the Saint Louis Chess Club twice a year to give players an additional opportunity to earn norms. Wish me luck! Kostya Kavutskiy is a professional chess player, coach, and author currently residing in Mountain View, CA. His first book, Modernized: The Open Sicilian was published in February 2015. For more of Kostya, check out his official Twitter and blog.