13-Year-Old Prodigy Wins SPICE Cup Tournament

Photo: Competitors play their opening games during the 2023 SPICE Cup, held at the end of December in Chesterfield, Missouri.

Andy Woodward, a 13-year-old chess player from Texas and an international chess master, won the 17th Annual SPICE (Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence) Cup chess tournament, held at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Chesterfield Dec. 17-22. Webster chess team members and Grandmasters Aram Hakobyan and Yasser Quesada Perez tied for second place along with International Chess Master Safal Bora.  
  
The event was hosted by Webster University and co-sponsored by the Susan Polgar Foundation. 
  
The tournament was opened by Webster University President Julian Z. Schuster, who welcomed all the players to the event and then made a ceremonial move on a chess board to launch the week-long tournament. 
  
“Chess is an international game, and the tournament was another example of that, as it attracted top players from 10 different countries, including China and Vietnam,” Schuster said. “Like chess, Webster University is also global in nature, as we have locations around the world and students from more than 100 different countries enrolled. It is no surprise that Webster is home to the top-rated college chess team in the country and that we are the only university in the United States that offers a degree in chess studies.”  
  
Woodward arrived ranked initially as the eighth best player at the tournament. Out of the nine rounds he played, he won five of them and had four draws. A draw is a chess term for when each player in a game agrees that they can’t beat the other player.   
  
“Andy is a chess prodigy,” said Webster Chess Coach Liem Le about the winner. “He came in as a dark horse, but he played incredibly well, winning first place with a clear margin of one-half point above the second-place finisher.”  
  
Woodward’s total winnings were $5,500 for both winning the tournament as well as being the top “junior” player, a title for those under the age 16. The three players who tied for second earned $2,166 each. Other prizes ranged from $1,100 to $100. Overall, 53 players competed. 
 
Webster alumnus and Chess Grandmaster Illya Nyzhnyk tied for fifth place with International Chess Master Justin Wang. International Chess Master Anna Sargsyan, a Webster chess player, was the top-ranked woman in the tournament and finished in 14th place overall. Sargsyan was named the U.S. Women’s Collegiate Blitz Champion earlier this year. Webster chess player Woman Grandmaster Annamaria Marjanovic, who was last year’s U.S. Women’s Collegiate Blitz Champion, tied for second among women players.   
  
The overall final scores for all the players who took part can be found online. For more information about Webster’s chess program, visit https://www.webster.edu/spice/.