GM Leonid Kritz in his round three game against GM Hannes Stefansson, Photo Paul Truong
GM Leonid Kritz of Germany has taken the clear lead the SPICE Cup (September 19-28, Lubbock, TX) with 2.5/3. His two wins were both with Black, against GM Gregory Kaidanov and Icelandic GM, Hannes Stefansson.
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Gregory Kaidanov rebounded with a win of his own over Stefansson.
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The leading American player after three rounds is GM Varuzhan Akobian with 2/3. Varuzhan will represent USA at the 1st Mind Sport Games in China as well as the Dresden Olympiad. Here is Varuzhan's positional win over defending SPICE Cup champ, GM Eugene Perelshteyn.
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Watch the games live on Monroi.com or the Internet Chess Club. Also check out the live video feed and Susan Polgar's blog for more info. The games start at 3 PM EST, except for the last round which begins at 2 PM EST. Sept.23, Tuesday is a free day. Today's pairings (round 4) are:
Kritz - Miton
Pentala - Akobian
Onischuk - Perelshteyn
Kaidanov - Mikhalevski
Stefansson - Becerra
2008 SPICE Cup
Standings after 3 rounds
1 Kritz, Leonid GM 2610 GER 2.52-3 Akobian, Varuzhan GM 2610 USA 2.0
2-3 Mikhalevski, Victor GM 2592 ISR 2.0
4-7 Pentala, Harikrishna GM 2668 IND 1.5
4-7 Onischuk, Alexander GM 2670 USA 1.5
4-7 Becerra, Julio GM 2598 USA 1.5
4-7 Kaidanov, Gregory GM 2605 USA 1.5
8-9 Miton, Kamil GM 2580 POL 1.0
8-9 Perelshteyn, Eugene GM 2555 USA 1.0
10 Stefansson, Hannes GM 2566 ISL 0.5