AMERICA’S NEWEST GM BEN FINEGOLD; WESLEY SO HALVED THE POINT WITH HAMMER

SPICE CUP Group A

Rankings after Round 7

1-3. GMs Hammer, Kuzubov, Andreikin 4.0

4. GM Mamedov 3.5

5. GM So 3.0

6. GM Akobian 2.5

WHILE all the board in Group A division ended into a draw, it was Ben Finegold stole the thunder when he captured his third and final GM norm in the Group B division despite with one round to go.

The Michigan based Finegold (2515) settled a draw with compatriot FM Daniel Rensch (2392) after 26 moves of Slav Defense to raise his total 6.0 points in the on-going 2009 Susan Polgar Institute Chess for Excellence (SPICE) Cup Chess Championship being held at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas on Sunday.

“Welcome to the club,” said Filipino GM Rogelio “Joey” Antonio Jr., to his friend Ben Finegold.

In the Group A division, Filipino teen Grandmaster Wesley So (2644) halved the point with Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (2585) after 58 moves of Slav Defense; Ukrainian GM Yuriy Kuzubov (2636) split the point with Azerbaijan GM Rauf Mamedov (2626) after 21 moves of Slav Defense as well top seed Russian GM Dmitry Andreikin (2659) agreed a draw over last year’s SPICE Cup co-champ American GM Varuzhan Akobian (2636) after 31 moves of Reti Opening.

In their first meeting of this double round-robin format, The 16 year old So blundered on his 25th pawn-move and had to resign after some struggle to Hammer.

So remains in fifth place with 3 points behind GMs Hammer, Kuzubov and Andreikin who occupy respectively the first, second and third places with identical 4 points each.

Running fourth is Memedov with 3.5 points while Akobian is dead last in sixth place with 2.5 points.

The Filipino chess wizard needs to win his remaining games to boast his Elo rating points of this event under the tutelage of GM Susan Polgar, sisters of Judith and Sofia who are also topnotch chess champions.

BY: MARLON BERNARDINO.