GM Illya Nyzhnyk of Ukraine won the 2020 SPICE Cup Open, one of the rare classical Swiss events during the pandemic, which ended in late October at the western suburb city of Chesterfield in St. Louis, Missouri. Only 33 players, including 11 grandmasters, braved the strict COVID-19 protocols enforced by organizers during the event.
The grandmasters also ruled the tournament, with ten of them placing in the top 10 of the final standings after tiebreaks. Nyzhnyk tallied 7½ points to pocket the $5,000 champion’s purse. GM Benjamin Gledura finished in solo second and was richer by $3,000. GMs Aram Hakobyan, Lazaro Bruzon Batista and Yuniesky Quesada Perez shared third to fifth places and pocketed $1,500 apiece. GMs Aleksandr Lenderman and John Burke shared sixth to seventh places and out of the money circle, as did GMs Emilio Cordova, Christopher Repka, and Peter Prohaszka who shared eighth to 14th slots along with IMs Hans Moke Niemann and Justin Sarkar, and FMs Balaji Daggupati and Jason Liang.
It was the third SPICE Cup Open title for the 24-year old Nyzhnyk, having won it in 2018 and 2019. SPICE, incidentally, stands for Susan Polagr Institute for Chess Excellence.
Top 14 final standings (after tiebreaks): 1. Nyzhnyk, 7½; 2. Gledura, 7; 3-5. Hakobyan, Bruzon Batista, Quesada Perez, 6; 6-7. Lenderman, Burke, 5½; 8-14. Cordova, Repka, Prohaszka, Daggupati, Niemann, Sarkar, Liang, 5.
Lenderman, A (2634)-Hakobyan, A (2588) [A20]
Chesterfield (3) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.0-0 Nb6 7.Nc3 Be7 8.d3 0-0 9.Be3 Re8 10.a3 Bf8 11.b4 a5 12.Bxb6 cxb6 13.b5 Nd4 14.Nd2 Bd7 15.Bxb7 Ra7 16.Bg2 Nxb5 17.Nxb5 Bxb5 18.Qb3 Bd7 19.Bd5 Bh3 20.Rfc1 a4 21.Qc4 b5 22.Qe4 Rc7 23.Rxc7 Qxc7 24.Nf3 h6 25.g4 Qc3 26.Rd1 Bxa3 27.d4 Rc8 28.Bxf7+ Kxf7 29.Qd5+ Kf8 30.Nxe5 Qb3 31.Ng6+ Ke8 32.Qe5+ Kd8 33.Rf1 Bxf1 34.Nf4 Qb1 35.Ne6+ Kd7 36.Qxg7+ Be7 37.Nc5+ Rxc5 0-1
Gledura, B (2620)-Nyzhnyk, I (2665) [A07]
Chesterfield (4) 2020
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.0-0 Be7 5.d4 0-0 6.a3 b6 7.c4 Bb7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.Nc3 c5 10.Bf4 Nbd7 11.Rc1 Ne4 12.Ne5 Nxc3 13.Rxc3 Bf6 14.e3 Re8 15.Nc4 Be7 16.Qc2 b5 17.Nd2 c4 18.e4 b4 19.axb4 Bxb4 20.e5 Bxc3 21.bxc3 Rb8 22.Ra1 a6 23.Nf1 Nf8 24.Bc1 f6 25.exf6 Qxf6 26.Ne3 Qf7 27.Ra5 Nd7 28.Ba3 Rbd8 29.Bd6 Qf6 30.Bc7 Rc8 31.Bf4 g5 32.Bxd5+ Bxd5 33.Nxd5 Qd8 34.Qf5 gxf4 35.Qxd7 Qxd7 36.Nf6+ Kg7 37.Nxd7 f3 38.Ne5 Rb8 39.Nxf3 Re2 40.Rxa6 Rbb2 41.Ra7+ Kf8 42.Ra8+ Ke7 43.Ra7+ Kd8 44.Ne5 Rxf2 45.Nxc4 Rg2+ 46.Kf1 Rbf2+ 47.Ke1 Rc2 48.Kf1 Rxh2 49.Kg1 Rcg2+ 50.Kf1 Rxg3 0-1
Nyzhnyk, I (2665)-Cordova, E (2592) [A28]
Chesterfield (9) 2020
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.Qc2 Nf6 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.e3 0-0 6.Nd5 Re8 7.Qf5 d6 8.Nxf6+ Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 10.a3 Bc5 11.b4 Bb6 12.Bb2 a5 13.b5 Ne7 14.d4 c5 15.dxe5 fxe5 16.0-0-0 Bc7 17.g4 Ng6 18.h3 f5 19.gxf5 Bxf5 20.Rg1 Kf8 21.h4 Nh8 22.h5 Nf7 23.Nh4 Be6 24.f4 Bd8 25.Nf3 Bf6 26.Bd3 Ke7 27.Ng5 Bxg5 28.fxg5 Rg8 29.g6 hxg6 30.hxg6 Nh6 31.Rh1 Nf5 32.Rdf1 Ng7 33.Rh7 b6 34.Bc3 Ra7 35.Be1 Kd8 36.Rf6 Re7 37.Bh4 Kc7 38.Be4 Bxc4 39.Rf2 Rd7 40.Bc6 1-0
Gledura, B (2620)-Quesada Perez, Y (2598) [E11]
Chesterfield (8) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Nbd2 0-0 5.a3 Be7 6.e4 d6 7.Be2 Nfd7 8.b4 e5 9.d5 a5 10.Bb2 c5 11.b5 Nb6 12.Qc2 f5 13.0-0-0 f4 14.g3 N8d7 15.Rdg1 Rf7 16.h4 fxg3 17.Rxg3 Nf8 18.h5 Bf6 19.Nf1 h6 20.Kb1 Nh7 21.Bc1 Kh8 22.Ne3 Bd7 23.Ng2 Ng5 24.Ngh4 Nxf3 25.Rxf3 Nc8 26.Ng6+ Kh7 27.Rg1 Ne7 28.Rfg3 Ng8 29.f4 Qc7 30.fxe5 dxe5 31.Bg4 Bxg4 32.Rxg4 Re8 33.Qg2 Bd8 34.Rg3 Nf6 35.Qe2 Nd7 36.Kc2 Nb6 37.Kd3 Nc8 38.Qg4 Nd6 39.Bd2 b6 40.Bc3 Bg5 41.Bxe5 Rxe5 42.Nxe5 Rf2 43.Nf3 Qe7 44.Qe6 Qf8 45.Nxg5+ hxg5 46.Qg6+ Kh8 47.Qxg5 Rf3+ 48.Rxf3 Qxf3+ 49.Qe3 Qf6 50.e5 Qf5+ 51.Kc3 Ne4+ 52.Kb3 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1Ke8!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Rxc8+, Sxc8 2.d8=S#; 1…Kc7, Sa4/c4 2.d8=Q#; 1…Sxd7 2.Qxd7#./PN
