Ben's Blog: Spring Spice Cup - Round 8

Hard work has paid off!  I had a novelty (20.Qe2) ready for Darwin, and I have been analyzing this position for a month!  I had a big-time edge, and pushed my advantage to the maximum.  Darwin made about two bad moves after my novelty, but, he was not happy with his position at all, and said he might give up the line completely.

GM Julio Becerra, who has been unstoppable thus far, lost a long tough game to IM Davorin Kuljasevic. Julio is now only leading by half a point, as IM Gergely Antal won against IM Dean Ippolito.

Both were going for GM norms (Dean needed 1.5 out of 2) and now Gergely can get his final norm if he can win the last round, with black, versus tailender GM Jesse Kraai. Julio has white in the last round against FM Eric Hansen, who needs to win to get his final IM norm!

There was a wonderful dinner party at the home of Susan Polgar and Paul Truong, as all the players and some staff of Texas Tech all enjoyed the enormous amounts of food!  Everyone had a great time, and even some bughouse was played by many of the Spice Cup participants!

I am now tied for 2nd with Gergely Antal with +2, just behind GM Julio Becerra, who has +3. Tomorrow's game at 10AM CDT!

[pgn|pgn=<<<1. 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 11. exf6 Qb6 12. g3 Bb7 13. Bg2 O-O-O 14. O-O c5 15. d5 b4 16. Na4 Qa6 17. a3 Bxd5 18. Bxd5 Ne5 19. Nxc5 Bxc5 20. Qe2 exd5 21. Qxe5 b3 22. Rae1 Qc6 23. h4 Rde8 24. Qf5+ Qd7 25. Qf3 Bd4 26. Re7 Rxe7 27. fxe7 Qe6 28. Rd1 Bc5 29. Rxd5 Bxe7 30. Bxe7 Qxe7 31. Qg4+ 1-0>>>|white=Ben Finegold|black=Darwin Yang|white_rating=2534 |black_rating=2378]

Standings after 8 rounds:

1. GM Julio Becerra 5.5 (+3)
2-3. IM Gergely Antal, GM Ben Finegold 5.0 (+2)
4. IM Dean Ippolito 4.5 (+1)
5-7. FM Darwin Yang, IM Gabor Papp, IM Davorin Kuljasevic 4.0 (=)
8. FM Hansen 3.0 (-2)
9-10. GM Jesse Kraai, IM Irina Krush 2.5 (-3)

Honey Bee