Saturday, December 15, 2007

Wildcard Game #4



Wildcard #4: IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Denys Shmelov (BOS) 1-0


Jonathan Hilton: I thought pretty hard about this selection, and I realize it's a bit of a gambit. There are *so many* clean wins to choose from that I'm hedging my bets on the judges getting bored of quality play and indulging themselves to just pick the goriest game of the year. Bonin vs Shmelov was much more of a dogfight than any of those clean wins, and it actually had an endgame – a really horrific one, too. If the judges have a temperament like I do, they're going to realize USCL games have fighting spirit, and that's what this pick personifies. It was a good game and a real slugfest!

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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 16, 2007 at 12:49 PM

    ... can we have an IQ test for this kid? are negatives possible?

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  2. AnonymousDecember 16, 2007 at 1:18 PM

    I enjoyed that game a lot, even if there was maybe some mistakes.

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  3. Greg ShahadeDecember 16, 2007 at 10:54 PM

    That's not nice Mr. Anonymous. Please don't insult the esteemed and gloried USCL Game of the Week judges!

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  4. AnonymousDecember 18, 2007 at 9:36 AM

    The Boylston Chess Club Blog has some food for thought about this game:

    http://boylston-chess-club.blogspot.com/2007/12/can-game-that-didnt-count-be-game-of.html

    I agree with the viewpoint there. With all due respect to Mr. Bonin (and I have a lot of respect for him!), Denys played the final dozen or more moves in, shall we say, "less than ideal" conditions. I, for one, had a beer in hand! :)

    -Matt

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  5. SalDecember 18, 2007 at 6:36 PM

    In response to the "fighting spirit" the game had absolutely no value in the match, thus could be one of the reasons why Shmelov lost. No offense to Hilton but there were definitely MUCH better choices.

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  6. IlyaDecember 25, 2007 at 5:37 PM

    Horrible choice--let me repeat it-HORRIBLE!!! First of all choosing this game cost a truly deserving game a spot in the final 20, and secondly it quite possibly will spell the end of Hilton's judging career. Hilton stop smoking crack !!

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  7. Greg ShahadeDecember 25, 2007 at 11:50 PM

    Ilya you waited till Dec 25th to post that in order to ruin Hilton's Christmas?

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  8. IlyaDecember 26, 2007 at 1:27 PM

    Lol Greg, no I just happened to stumble upon the link to this while reading Arun's predictions. Happy Holidays to everyone!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousDecember 26, 2007 at 6:18 PM

    Happy Holidays to everyone too!

    - Greg who is too lazy to signin

    ReplyDelete

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