SPICE Cup

GM Susan Polgar is already assembling her line-up for the 2010 SPICE Cup. GM-elect Ray Robson moves from the "B" Group this year to the "A" Group. GM Eugene Perelshteyn and GM Georg Meier are also confirmed for the 2010 "A" Group. "The format of the A group will once again be a 6-player DRR (category 16 or 17) event. The B group will be a 10-player (category 11-12) RR event." A third group will also be added for 2010 - not yet specified! An all women group? A second norm-opportunity group similar in make-up to Group "B"? A combination of the two? I'll be very interested to see what SPICE cooks up for 2010 :)

Chess Femme News

I did a short update (very short) to Chess Femme News the other night. I'm way behind again and hope this weekend to catch-up and update July through September, 2009. Whew! I'm practically back to normal schedule again which means only 30 hours a week work for Goddesschess instead of the 50 I've been putting in lately. Piece of cake :) Here is more news about chess femmes from around the internet! Chessdom has the following reports:

• The Serbian Women Team Championship (September 14 - 22, 2009)
• "Krk Mediterranean Golden Island" (September 11 - 18, 2009) in Baška on the Croatian island of Krk
• 2009 European Women's Team Chess Championship (October 21-31, 2009) Novi Sad, Serbia - a line up of some (most?) of the teams. The newly-crowned Female Champion of the Montreal Open, WGM Salome Melia (GEO 2432), is playing on the Georgian team in this event. Go Salome, Go!

Speaking of Salome, I believe today is her last day in Montreal after her successful appearance at the 2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship. She has been seeing the sights around town and being wined and dined. She has charmed everyone she has met and they all wish for her to return to Montreal as soon as possible. Tonight Melia is playing a simul at my favorite chess hang-out in Montreal, Cafe Pi - in fact, while I'm typing this it's already in progress, because Montreal is an hour ahead of Milwaukee time. I hope that the Montreal chess community turns out full force to support this event.

Mr. Don has added lots of new links and information about the 2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship at Goddesschess under the "Public Square" column (right hand column). He's working on an article about the Championnat and what it meant to him to have a part in this traditional Montreal (his home town) event, but I believe tonight he's taking some time off to go the Melia simul at Pi :)

Info on 2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship and the Melia simul at Pi tonight:

http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship_5153.html

http://goddesschess.blogspot.com/2009/09/2009-montreal-open-chess-championship_5384.html

From The Week in Chess (scroll down to info):

• FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, 20 November to 15 December 2009, reports a partial list of qualifiers or potential qualifiers: Current Women's World Chess Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk is ON the list. Will she play? Is this a possible reason why the final list of the Russian Women's Team for the European Women's Team Chess Championship hasn't been finalized yet - because - because? GM Judit Polgar is listed as a possible participant, by way of average 7/2008 & 1/2009 rating. Stay tuned! Lots to be determined yet.
• 2nd Fide Women Grand Prix The 2nd Fide Women Grand Prix is also take place in Nanjing in 27th Sept - 9th October 2009 with the top 12 players in the world. Gujuan Tzu blog in. http://blog.sina.com.cn/chessnews Soooo - who's going to play in what? Evident conflicts for several chess femmes, who will need time to prepare for whatever event they decide to play in

No report about chess femmes would be complete without the latest news on the Polgar sisters!

The Unive Tournament in Hoogeveen takes place 16th-24th October 2009 with a new sponsor. The main four player tournament has: Vassily Ivanchuk, Judit Polgar, Sergei Tiviakov and Anish Giri. There is an open alongside.

GM Susan Polgar of SPICE is busy with all of the thousand last-minutes things to take care of in putting on the SPICE Invitational, this year featuring both "A" and "B" groups of players from around the world. Of course, it's not just the Invitational, there are also Open and Scholastic Tournaments!

GM Susan Polgar will also once again be acting as judge to decide the winner of the Goddesschess Fighting Chess award (in the tradition of the fighting chess of the Polgar sisters) for the 2009 U.S. Women's Chess Championship, reprising her role from the 2008 Championship.

Life in Lubbock, Texas

Lubbock is known for Texas Tech University's beautiful campus and, since 2007, the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE), which is part of Texas Tech. I understand that since SPICE began functioning, Texas has moved into the #1 spot for states in the United States with USCF registered chess players, thanks to its hosting of numerous new scholastic and open tournaments. (More information about SPICE and chess scholarships). And then, there is the exciting new SPICE Invitational, where up-and-coming chessplayers are invited to participate in a tournament with a chance to earn IM and GM norms, and the prestigious SPICE Cup, which started in 2007 and has grown in popularity and ELO rating since it's inaugural year! (2009 information) By popular demand, 2009 will host two sections of players for the first time! But Lubbock isn't just a college and chess town. It is also the home to one of the premiere Paleo-Indian archaeological sites in the United States. Story at The Daily Toreador Lubbock Lake Landmark offers ancient insight, historic findings Hannah Boen Issue date: 7/17/09 Section: La Vida Every July since the 1970s, university students from across the globe have gathered in the same area to catch a glimpse of human life 12,000 years ago. The Lubbock Lake Landmark is the location of a late Paleo-Indian site that continuously has been excavated since its discovery during the Great Depression. Katherine Ehlers, a graduate research assistant from Midland, has been visiting the site each July for six years to discover and study pieces of history. "The more we can learn about how people live and adapt, the better," said Ehlers, the site's crew chief. "These things are relevant to today if we can study the trends of people thousands of years ago." Ehlers has spent much of her time as an undergraduate and graduate student at Texas Tech doing regional research in the Caprock area and has the artifacts to prove it. Halfway into this year's dig, her group has found Bison bone and some stone tools, clues into what life was like for humans thousands of years ago. "I think it's neat that people have been hanging out in Lubbock for that long," she said, "and we're still here." Disa Wiberg is an osteology masters student from Lund University in Sweden, and she is spending six weeks of her summer in Lubbock to be part of Ehlers' crew. "It's a good experience," she said. "You get responsibility, and you get to learn about every aspect of archeology." Wiberg and a handful of other students spend each day digging and studying, and each night in tents near the dig site. The students work, eat, sleep and shower outdoors. Although she admitted the West Texas heat was unpleasant, this is her second year to visit this dig site, and said it would probably not be her last. "I come here partly for the experience," she said, "and partly for the great people." Nicole Cotto, a sophomore anthropology major from Loyola University in Chicago, said she has enjoyed spending time with a diverse group of students who share her interests, however, was hesitant about spending six weeks of her summer in Lubbock. "Texas seemed kind of far," she said, "and I thought, 'What the heck? Lubbock? What is in Lubbock?'" Cotto said this is her first time to work on a dig site and has enjoyed the experience and the history the site has to offer. Both students believe they are working on a site that is providing valuable experience in their respective fields. Lubbock Lake Landmark education program manager, Susan Rowe, said the site has so much history to offer, students have only made a small dent in researching the area since they began digging more than 30 years ago. In the past three decades, full skeletons have been found on site of an ancient bison, a Columbian mammoth, a giant armadillo and a giant short-faced bear. Although the dig site attracts attention from students worldwide, Rowe said it is a good opportunity for Tech students as well. "I would suggest anyone looking for field experience with archeology or anthropology look here first," she said. Lubbock Lake Landmark plans to continue to study anything they can find on their historical site, she said, in order to learn the interactions and environments of the first Lubbock residents. Students interested in volunteer opportunities at the dig site may visit http://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/lll/ for more information.