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This is the thirteenth part in a weekly series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2007 USCL Game of the Year. For more information on exactly how this process works and the prize information, please refer to: Game of the Year Preview.
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8th Place: IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 0-1
IM Burnett found a beautiful finish with 30... Qe3+!!
Below are the comments from the judges on why they ranked the game where they did and in parentheses is the ranking given by that judge and the number of points awarded for that ranking.
FM Ron Young (1st Place, 20 points): Does voting for a game ending with a queen sacrifice betray a lack of sophistication? Well, just call me "Bubba" then. Of course the queen sacrifice wasn't difficult, but don't forget Black was down a rook in that position, and having doubled b-pawns defended by the powerful, then impotent, then powerful again fianchettoed bishop makes this much more than your mother's back-rank mate.
NM Dennis Monokroussos (6th Place, 15 points): One of the most visually pleasing games of the year. Burnett went into full Petrosian mode: a hypermodern opening followed by an exchange sac and a mighty pawn steamroller, culminating in a nice tactical shot to wrap things up. It's not the best game of the year, as Milman was unable to put up much of a fight, but it may be my favorite.
GM Alex Shabalov (11th Place, 10 points): Milkman vs Brunette. Standard exchange sacrifice but a pretty finish.
WGM Jennifer Shahade (11th Place, 10 points): A beautiful win with a nice exchange sacrifice that glided into a monumental pawn storm that turned into an awesome queen sack. It could have gotten in an even higher ranking except that after the sack, the game seemed to play itself for Black, and even though the queen sack was gorgeous, there were other ways to win.
FM Robby Adamson (15th Place, 6 points): Lev, the theory hound, laid an egg in this one. Ron on the other hand played this very well. Knowing Lev, I can guess why he didn't play that well. As most fans of the very over hyped Coach K-Land basketball team, he had to be thinking back to Duke's 2007 NCAA tournament flame out. (War, Arizona Wildcats, Jerryd Bayless, and Chase Budinger!). Ron got incredible counterplay for his exchange sac (hard to call it a sac when it seemed Black had 6 pawns for the exchange) and finished him off with the "super-precise" (copyright, Emory Tate, all rights reserved) 30... Qe3+. I award this game six points.
Total Score of Milman vs Burnett: (8th Place, 61 Points)
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Stay tuned for six more such articles as the field shrinks by one game each week to see which of the following games will be the 2007 Game of the Year!
Week 3: IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs GM Hikaru Nakamura (NY) 1-0 Article
Week 4: GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 0-1 Article
Week 6: GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 1-0 Article
Wildcard Round: FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1-0 Article
Semifinals: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Drasko Boskovic (DAL) 0-1 Article
Championship: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #2: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 1-0 Article
Eliminated:
8th Place (61 Points): IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 0-1 Article
9th Place (54 Points): IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0 Article
10th Place (52 Points): IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0 Article
11th Place (49 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs IM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0 Article
12th Place (44 Points): IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
13th Place (44 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs FM Marc Arnold (NY) 1-0 Article
14th Place (43 Points): IM Eric Tangborn (SEA) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 0-1 Article
15th Place (35 Points): IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
16th Place (35 Points): GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 1-0 Article
17th Place (35 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) 1-0 Article
18th Place (30 Points): FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 0-1 Article
19th Place (29 Points): IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs IM Lev Milman (CAR) 0-1 Article
20th Place (7 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Denys Shmelov (BOS) 1-0 Article
Unfortunately, this "contest" may not be a real contest for much longer as with his second exact pick in a row, NM Monkroussos now has a commanding lead, and only FM Young seems to be in realistic striking distance. Perhaps I'll stop updating this for that reason (though it could have something to do with my bitterness at now being far from the top, as I was throughout the beginning of the contest). FM Adamson still brings up the rear as he and GM Shabalov continue to deal body blows to each other with their repeated polar opposite rankings (last three weeks have been 3rd, 14th, and 4th for Adamson while being 14th, 4th, and 19th for Shabalov). These are the overall standings.
1st Place: Dennis Monokroussos (20, 13, 19, 18, 12, 17, 7, 11, 16, 14, 10, 9): 30 Points
2nd Place: Ron Young (20, 19, 13, 9, 7, 18, 14, 17, 11, 12, 15, 10): 37 Points
3rd Place: Alex Shabalov (20, 12, 16, 15, 17, 10, 18, 9, 13, 19, 4, 14): 45 Points
4th Place: Jennifer Shahade (18, 20, 8, 12, 17, 19, 5, 14, 16, 7, 10, 15): 47 Points
5th Place: Robby Adamson (20, 12, 19, 16, 17, 6, 18, 10, 5, 4, 14, 3): 50 Points
and the two non-judges,
Arun Sharma (20, 19, 18, 11, 12, 15, 5, 9, 13, 17, 16, 4): 41 Points
Braden Bournival (19, 20, 9, 17, 7, 4, 18, 14, 15, 16, 12, 11): 49 Points
If there is an update on this next week, hopefully it will be a more positive one for myself!
Well no excuse for me this week. A pick that was just plain wrong, and having thought this game had a very good shot to make the Top Five, hard to really claim I was even close. Nevertheless, I am still pleased that this game managed to beat out both Molner vs Kaufman and Smith vs Perelshteyn (the former game due to all the arguments that Greg and I had over which should have won Game of the Week in Week 9, and the latter for reasons I shall mention in FM Adamson's comment below) so I can't be too disappointed about its final placing. Let's examine what the judges said.
Robby Adamson: A very strange comment to me in his implication that it's ridiculous that this game didn't win Game of the Week. While I happen to agree with that philosophy, given his own personal rankings, him saying it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. After all, the game which beat this game out, Molner vs Kaufman, he ranked in 4th place himself (vs 3rd Place for this)! While I've stated on many an occasion that I certainly don't think that game was worthy of such a high ranking, given he felt they were so close, I really can't comprehend why he would find it ridiculous that that game happened to beat this one out for GOTW. Despite that oddity, it would be remiss of me not to note that I had a bet with Greg over whether the Friedel vs Serper or Smith vs Perelshteyn game would finish higher in this contest, and Robby's low ranking of the latter game combined with his high ranking of the former is really what won me that bet. As such, I hereby retract any past negative statements made about any of his rankings (however, I certainly don't promise not to make any future negative ones either).
Deenis Monokroussos: Not really sure what to say here, but I definitely look forward to his analysis of this game in his chess videos.
Ron Young: Once again, I'm rather dumbstruck that Ron actually talked about the game itself in some capacity, but his note does kind of surprise me as I really would have thought the "using the whole board" description was a trait exhibited far more in last week's Smith vs Perelshteyn elimination.
Alex Shabalov: Despite the fact that I feel this ranking is too low given the high quality of play which he even hints at, I like both of these nicknames too much to deride an excessive amount (plus I have plenty saved for the judge below).
Jennifer Shahade: Well, I see I have a new adversary for a judge, as Jenn really tried to cost me my bet in ranking this game so low. I must further note that I find her description of this game as lacking "flash and sparkle" to be disturbingly similar to the negative propaganda that her brother desperately tried to feed me whenever we discussed this game (one might be inclined to think that this is just an example of the "great minds think alike" phenomenon, but I tend to believe it's an example of the opposing theory, whatever that might be called). Further evidence of this is that she and her brother were the only judges to rank the Molner vs Kaufman contest higher than this game in either GOTW or GOTY!
Hopefully next week I'll return to being at least semi-correct and won't have to blast the judges quite as much!
This is the twelfth part in a weekly series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2007 USCL Game of the Year. For more information on exactly how this process works and the prize information, please refer to: Game of the Year Preview.
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9th Place: IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0
IM Friedel had just played 49. Re8! allowing the very dangerous looking 50... gxf3? in the above position but had a nice mating attack prepared in reply.
Below are the comments from the judges on why they ranked the game where they did and in parentheses is the ranking given by that judge and the number of points awarded for that ranking.
FM Robby Adamson (3rd Place, 18 points): First of all, how in the world did this game not win Game of the Week and have to back-door into the running for Game of the Year as a Wildcard?? This game gets high marks because both players played well, and there were no obvious mistakes. I will probably judge this game higher than others, but I liked how Josh was able to outplay Serper in an equal position with some slow and careful play. I award this eighteen points.
NM Dennis Monokroussos (9th Place, 12 points): A strange game. Friedel kept squeezing but didn't really have much, yet the more Serper pushed his Kingside pawns in search of play, the worse his position became! The game would have been ranked higher if not for Serper's blunder on move 50; after 50... Re7 51. Rxe7+ Qxe7 52. Qxf4 gxf3 53. Bxe5+ Kg6 54. gxf3 Bxf3+ 55. Qxf3 Qxe5, White still has some work ahead of him.
FM Ron Young (10th Place, 11 points): It is hard to out-tough a tough player unless you are tough. I was impressed by the way White used the whole board. It made me suspect that he practices at home on a 9x9.
GM Alex Shabalov (14th Place, 7 points): Desperate Housewife vs The Rise of the Silver Serper. Same scenario as before between these two, except for some extra cool maneuvering by Desperate Housewife and a nice final execution.
WGM Jennifer Shahade (15th Place, 6 points): A well played game, but we'd be lying to ourselves if we tried to say that Best Game awards don't usually go to games with some flash and sparkle.
Total Score of Friedel vs Serper: (9th Place, 54 Points)
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Stay tuned for seven more such articles as the field shrinks by one game each week to see which of the following games will be the 2007 Game of the Year!
Week 3: IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs GM Hikaru Nakamura (NY) 1-0 Article
Week 4: GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 0-1 Article
Week 6: GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 1-0 Article
Week 7: IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 0-1 Article
Wildcard Round: FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1-0 Article
Semifinals: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Drasko Boskovic (DAL) 0-1 Article
Championship: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #2: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 1-0 Article
Eliminated:
9th Place (54 Points): IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0 Article
10th Place (52 Points): IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0 Article
11th Place (49 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs IM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0 Article
12th Place (44 Points): IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
13th Place (44 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs FM Marc Arnold (NY) 1-0 Article
14th Place (43 Points): IM Eric Tangborn (SEA) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 0-1 Article
15th Place (35 Points): IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
16th Place (35 Points): GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 1-0 Article
17th Place (35 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) 1-0 Article
18th Place (30 Points): FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 0-1 Article
19th Place (29 Points): IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs IM Lev Milman (CAR) 0-1 Article
20th Place (7 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Denys Shmelov (BOS) 1-0 Article
Quite alarmingly, for the first time since this contest began, I do not at least have a share of the lead. While part of me knows it's impossible for me to not win in the end, another part of me really doesn't like the fact that I'm trailing as the moment and that NM Monokroussos has a bit of a longterm edge in that of the nine games yet to be eliminated, he has ranked eight in the top nine anyway (while the rest of us judges have at most seven of the remaining nine ranked in the top nine). Given his lead in the contest, that certainlyy bodes well for him coming out on top in the end. On the other end, there is some good news for WGM Shahade as for the first time in the last five weeks, she is no longer in last (and is on GM Shabalov's heels for third). If they'd known about this contest prior to submitting their rankings, I might have accused GM Shabalov and FM Adamson of conspiring to make themselves both lose as their completely opposite rankings for the last two games has caused great damage to both of them in the standings. Here's how it looks as of now.
1st Place: Dennis Monokroussos (20, 13, 19, 18, 12, 17, 7, 11, 16, 14, 10): 30 Points
2nd Place: Ron Young (20, 19, 13, 9, 7, 18, 14, 17, 11, 12, 15): 36 Points
3rd Place: Alex Shabalov (20, 12, 16, 15, 17, 10, 18, 9, 13, 19, 4): 40 Points
4th Place: Jennifer Shahade (18, 20, 8, 12, 17, 19, 5, 14, 16, 7, 10): 41 Points
5th Place: Robby Adamson (20, 12, 19, 16, 17, 6, 18, 10, 5, 4, 14): 44 Points
and the two non-judges,
Arun Sharma (20, 19, 18, 11, 12, 15, 5, 9, 13, 17, 16): 36 Points
Braden Bournival (19, 20, 9, 17, 7, 4, 18, 14, 15, 16, 12): 47 Points
We'll see if anyone can slice into NM Monokroussos's advantage next week!
So another pick for me which falls in the category of not quite correct but not very far off and in a contest with as many contestants as this, something that I don't think should be especially distressing. After all, of the remaining games this is the one I myself would have ranked lowest so it seems pretty clear that my guidance has lead the judges to the right decision in some fashion despite it taking them a lot longer than I thought it would. Let's look at what they said.
Alex Shabalov: Basically what I expected as to his commentary, but I must note that this is probably my favorite nickname to this point.
Jennifer Shahade: I like her comment about the tactic 38. Bxh5 being found in a position that was inherently not tactical for so long, but I must confess I'm not sure what she quite means by "this game was so different".
Dennis Monokroussos: Once again Dennis plays the role of spoiler as the move everyone harps about from this game, 38. Bxh5, he points out might not have in fact been so great with Black having a strong reply. While when he pointed something similar out last week, it actually ended up surprising me that he even ranked that game as "high" as 14th place, he seems to follow the main majority opinion that it was a very good game by Smith on the whole and thus his ranking seems quite appropriate.
Robby Adamson: I am somewhat puzzled by his repeatedly saying "I wanted to rank this game higher" (something which it seems like he's said for at least half of the games), but he did seem to share my basic mindset about the game that there was nothing really earth shattering about it on the whole. While that point is likely valid, the majority of the other judges (quite reasonably) felt the quality of the game still demanded more.
Ron Young: "The Breyer can be cookies and cream, but sometimes it's a rocky road." Nice analogy as always.
Stay tuned for even more of this next week as we inch closer and closer to the especially interesting stages of this contest!
This is the eleventh part in a weekly series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2007 USCL Game of the Year. For more information on exactly how this process works and the prize information, please refer to: Game of the Year Preview.
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10th Place: IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0
IM Smith found the nice tactic 38. Bxh5!, cleverly exploiting Black's weak f5 square.
Below are the comments from the judges on why they ranked the game where they did and in parentheses is the ranking given by that judge and the number of points awarded for that ranking.
GM Alex Shabalov (4th Place, 17 points): Smith vs Boston Chicken. Surprisingly complete game by Bryan. After totally outplaying Boston Chicken in a complicated Breyer Ruy Lopez, a nice delivery with 38. Bxh5 and successful conversion.
WGM Jennifer Shahade (10th Place, 11 points): I really liked this game because it was so different from most of the other games. The tactic Bxh5 was not so deep, but on the other hand, it was hard to find because the nature of the position was so untactical for so many moves. It seemed to come from nowhere. This is an often overlooked skill of good players: the ability to play a bunch of patient moves in closed positions and just wait to pounce.
NM Dennis Monokroussos (10th Place, 11 points): I didn't enjoy this game as much as Molner vs Arnold, but it was a more heavyweight and complicated battle. Smith did very well to outplay his higher-rated opponent for a long time, successfully playing on both sides of the board. His play from moves 33-38 was less successful, and if Perelshteyn responded to Smith's piece sac with 38... f5, it would have been anyone's game. Missing his chance, Perelshteyn was ground down unmercifully. A very high-class performance by Smith!
FM Robby Adamson (14th Place, 7 points): I wanted to give this game higher marks because Bryan played well and Eugene is very difficult to defeat. Eugene opted, as most top players seem to have, by playing 1... e5 rather than his usual Accelerated Dragon. Unfortunately for Eugene, he never seemed to get any kind of play and paid the price. Bryan seemed to cut off most play on the Queenside and broke through with a fairly obvious sacrifice on h5. Other than his "sac", there was nothing earth shattering in this game, except that it was an upset of a GM by an IM.
FM Ron Young (15th Place, 6 points): The Breyer can be cookies and cream, but sometimes it's a rocky road.
Total Score of Smith vs Perelshteyn: (10th Place, 52 Points)
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Stay tuned for eight more such articles as the field shrinks by one game each week to see which of the following games will be the 2007 Game of the Year!
Week 3: IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs GM Hikaru Nakamura (NY) 1-0 Article
Week 4: GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 0-1 Article
Week 6: GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 1-0 Article
Week 7: IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 0-1 Article
Wildcard Round: FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1-0 Article
Semifinals: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Drasko Boskovic (DAL) 0-1 Article
Championship: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #2: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #3: IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0 Article
Eliminated:
10th Place (52 Points): IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0 Article
11th Place (49 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs IM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0 Article
12th Place (44 Points): IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
13th Place (44 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs FM Marc Arnold (NY) 1-0 Article
14th Place (43 Points): IM Eric Tangborn (SEA) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 0-1 Article
15th Place (35 Points): IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
16th Place (35 Points): GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 1-0 Article
17th Place (35 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) 1-0 Article
18th Place (30 Points): FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 0-1 Article
19th Place (29 Points): IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs IM Lev Milman (CAR) 0-1 Article
20th Place (7 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Denys Shmelov (BOS) 1-0 Article
A game which had such a variety of rankings was bound to mix up the standings a bit, and it did just that with GM Shabalov slipping into third as NM Monokroussos regained the lead, and FM Young, who was in last place for the early part of this contest, has fought his way up to second. On the other end of the spectrum, WGM Shahade continues to bring up the rear, but FM Adamson seems determined to give her some competition in that regard. Here are how things stand.
1st Place: Dennis Monokroussos (20, 13, 19, 18, 12, 17, 7, 11, 16, 14): 30 Points
2nd Place: Ron Young (20, 19, 13, 9, 7, 18, 14, 17, 11, 12): 31 Points
3rd Place: Alex Shabalov (20, 12, 16, 15, 17, 10, 18, 9, 13, 19): 34 Points
4th Place: Robby Adamson (20, 12, 19, 16, 17, 6, 18, 10, 5, 4): 40 Points
5th Place: Jennifer Shahade (18, 20, 8, 12, 17, 19, 5, 14, 16, 7): 41 Points
and the two non-judges,
Arun Sharma (20, 19, 18, 11, 12, 15, 5, 9, 13, 17): 30 Points
Braden Bournival (19, 20, 9, 17, 7, 4, 18, 14, 15, 16): 45 Points
We'll see if the leader in this contest changes once again next week!
Now that we are midway through the GOTY contest, it seemed that such a momentous occasion (only took a little over two months after all!) called for me to, instead of providing an article that no one reads with simple percentages, to write a much longer, more complete article (that no one will read anyway) detailing the ten games remaining in the contest and where I think they will finish.
Naturally some things will have to change from my original article given that the Top Ten games weren't precisely the ones I felt they would be and of course, now that I have much more insight to how the judges are ranking the games, obviously some of my viewpoints will change.
Overall, I must say I'm quite pleased with the way things have turned out so far. Sure I, like pretty much anyone would have, made some mistakes about where certain games would wind up, but on the whole it seems my ideas were reasonably in tune with most of what wound up happening and hopefully it will stay that way.
While of course some of the individual judge rankings have definitely surprised me also, they too, like the overall rankings seem to be fairly in tune with what I basically was expecting. I definitely like the fact that nearly all the judges seem to be emphasizing the quality factor as the utmost point when ranking the games. At the same time (not that this is a bad thing), a lot of the "intangibles" (like match situation, playoff consequences) seem to be being virtually ignored which definitely changes the outlook on certain games. Here's what I think will wind up happening as of now.
10th Place: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 1-0. Obviously a game that I misplaced (predicted 15th and would have ranked 14th), but I'm honestly not sure in exactly what way I really misjudged this game (and it seems even more people besides simply the judges disagree with me about this game, given how many votes this game has gotten in the GOTY Poll). My main feeling about it was that Black seemed to be better for most of the game, until White turned a nice tactical trick on him, and because of that the judges wouldn't think too highly of it as a whole. Clearly I was mistaken (as I often am) about that, but I nonetheless still feel this is the mostly likely candidate to go next.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 19%
Probability of Winning: 3%
Number of Points: 54
Article
9th Place: IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs GM Hikaru Nakamura (NY) 1-0. Despite the amount of heckling I took in placing this game so low when so many think it should win, nothing that has happened has dissuaded me from believing that this isn't about the right place for this game to wind up (closer to the opposite in fact). I still feel however, as I did before the contest began, that this game is a fair anomaly (which is why I am placing its chances of winning or finishing in the Top Five to be higher than its neighbors) and really no ranking will be especially surprising for it. But since the judges seem to be definitely holding a game's quality in high regard, and this game falls short of most of the remaining games in that sense, this placing should still be about where this game will wind up despite its off the charts excitement value.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 33%
Probability of Winning: 6%
Number of Points: 63
Article
8th Place: IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0. This is unquestionably a game I made a big mistake on (predicted 14th, would have ranked 16th). After all, I have been one of the biggest advocates of a games' quality factor being considered the most important thing in this contest, and if this game had any real attraction, it was definitely that (and also, the intangibles that I felt this game was lacking like relevance to the match situation, etc. are clearly not being regarded much by the judges). At the same time, now that we're into the top ten contenders of the contest, none of the other games this is currently competing against were exactly of low quality, and I still feel that this games' other aesthetic qualities don't quite measure up to most of the others (which is why I ranked it so low to begin with). Thus, while I respect this game being a Top Ten finisher, I still don't see it as likely to be in the Top Five.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 22%
Probability of Winning: 2%
Number of Points: 57
Article
7th Place: GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 1-0. I felt the major attraction of this game was the flashy middle-game moves, but in terms of sheer quality, I'm not really sure that this game quite has what it takes to be near the very top. By his own admission, GM Christiansen felt he didn't play the opening particularly well, and though he played the middlegame superbly, his opponent's play seemed a little overly cooperative in allowing that to happen. This will still get a few high rankings for the nice middlegame tactics, but I'm just not sure anymore if it's going to be able to quite make it into the Top Five. This now really seems like the most appropriate ranking for it.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 45%
Probability of Winning: 6%
Number of Points: 67
Article
6th Place: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Drasko Boskovic (DAL) 0-1. For some reason, pretty much everyone seems to be far more impressed by this game than I really was. I've given up on figuring out why that is, but my guess still is that the quality of this game wasn't as high as most of the others. On the other hand, the other detractions I felt it had (finishing after the overall match had been decided, etc.) are once again not likely to be taken into much account so who can really be sure where exactly this will wind up. This is just the best guess I can make for this game at this moment.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 46%
Probability of Winning: 5%
Number of Points: 68
Article
5th Place: IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0. I feel it is appopriate to begin the discussion of this game with a quote by our esteemed commissioner from an email to myself and fellow judge Jonathan Hilton which occurred while we were picking the Wildcard Games: "Also you are both on crack for your last picks, neither game has any chance of finishing even 10th Place." (in reference to my picking this game and Jonathan's pick of Bonin vs Shmelov). While proving Greg wrong occurs so often that I hardly think about it anymore, I still will never get tired of sharing every such instance with you readers.
Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest, this game seems like it has good marks in all the relevant categories and thus a reasonably likely Top Five finsher, but I just don't quite get that tip-top feeling from it so I don't think it's especially likely to get in the Top Three. To be honest, I'm not sure it even should be in the Top Five, but I really wanted to spite Greg for his ridiculous comments above and putting it as such here seems to be as good a way to do that as any.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 47%
Probability of Winning: 4%
Number of Points: 69
Article
4th Place: IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Ron Burnett (TN) 0-1. As time has gone by, this game has slowly seemed more and more impressive to me. I recall right after this game was played not really being sure if Black's early exchange sacrifice was really as good as the game's outcome seemed to suggest or if White simply hadn't played well afterwards. But since so many players stronger than I seem to be praising how good an understanding of the position the sacrifice demonstrated, I clearly didn't give it the appropriate credit at first. I think I'm doing so here as the impressive play plus nice finish make it seem quite likely for this game to wind up about here.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 54%
Probability of Winning: 7%
Number of Points: 73
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3rd Place: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 1-0. When I first predicted this game as the winner, I admit that had something to do with making a somewhat unconventional pick for the top spot (since after all, the first two years the winner of this contest was not a game most were expecting). However, given what a staunch defender I am of the numbers evening out in the end, I'll make a more conventional pick at this stage. While I feel this game still has a real chance to win based largely on the great play by Becerra, one detraction that I might not have appropriately noted was the large one-sidedness of the game, a factor many judges took note of in the recently eliminated Zilberstein vs Bartholomew contest. Just all recent developments have made me more and more convinced that first place is going to come down to the two games I've listed below.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 68%
Probability of Winning: 13%
Number of Points: 78
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2nd Place: FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1-0. Nothing really has changed in my overall view on this game since from when it was played to now. I think it definitely has a very good chance to win, but it also seems reasonably likely that one or even two of the judges will be fairly turned off by the fact that the game was essentially all preparation and wind up giving it a non-stellar ranking. Given how close I feel the contest for the top spot might be between this game and the below game, that could well be all it takes to knock this game down to second so that's where I'll still predict it to wind up.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 82%
Probability of Winning: 26%
Number of Points: 84
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1st Place: GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 0-1. The more I've thought about it, I've come to the firm conclusion that this game is really the best overall package, and thus the most likely to come out on top. Once again, it just seems in all the pertinent categories that it should get very high marks, and it seems unlikely that any judge will randomly give it a non-high ranking (like may happen with the Martinez game) and as such, the safest choice for the top game.
Probability of finishing in Top Five: 84%
Probability of Winning: 28%
Number of Points: 86
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Hopefully, now that we are inching closer and closer to the prize echelons of this contest, interest in what happens increases. I know, I for one, am really looking forward to see what happens!
So at long last (and just in time to save my job), my prediction for this game to be eliminated has finally come to fruition. Though I am pleased about that, I must admit, I'm really far more pleased by the fact that after all the arguments that Greg and I had as to whether this game Friedel vs Serper deserved to win GOTW in Week 9, that the GOTY judges have finally unequivocally proven that I was correct all along in putting this game lower than its counterpart in this contest.
While I could gloat about that for hours on end, I doubt any of you really care so I'll move on to how the judges' fared this week. I think this game was undoubtedly the biggest internal dissension the judges have had so far, essentially getting a rank from every part of the spectrum and no two rankings really especially similar. Let's examine their commentary.
Robby Adamson: Well, well, well. Now at least I have a true scapegoat for all the times as to why my prediction for this game to get the ax was wrong as it clearly would have gone long ago if not for this ranking. While it's somewhat difficult to fault his ranking given all the positives he noted for the game, I personally really must take issue with his positives of "after some stiff resistance by Kaufman" and "Mackenzie defended well" given so many people's contention Kaufman missed multiple chances to get a nearly two pawn advantage (as FM Young notes below) and that Molner made several mistakes immediately after sacrificing the piece (as NM Monokroussos notes).
Jennifer Shahade: Well at least she seemed to indirectly agree with me in implying that she also felt that Kaufman didn't put up enough resistance, though I'm surprised after acknowledging that, she would still rank this game quite so high. Jenn still has three of her games between 7th and 12th still in the contest so this comment could definitely be a clue as to which remaining games might be resting in those spots.
Ron Young: I like the analogy to Steinitz and Petrosian, but I personally have never heard of this "shifting values" theory. One can only hope that Kaufman's own theories didn't wind up betraying him in this game
Dennis Monokroussos: He seems to be the only one to look at the 24. Qc1 idea as more of a negative than a positive as when this game won GOTW, along with the two GOTY judges who ranked this game high, that seemed to be a major attraction of the game -- that White could play such a passive looking move yet seemed to be perhaps one of the moves which really won him the game. While that still might be true, the fact that White was really losing at that point and was only bailed out by Black's later inaccuracies makes his ranking seem more than generous.
Alex Shabalov: While I'm still confused by GM Shabalov's technique of always saying something critical about the games he ranks reasonably and never anything bad about the ones he ranks low, I'm too pleased by the fact that his ranking clearly indicates that he shared my basic mindset about the game so I can't be too harsh.
Now that I've finally become correct again, I think it's without question that I'm going to go on a massive tear so I'd advise you all to read my future predictions and make your bets accordingly.
This is the tenth part in a weekly series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2007 USCL Game of the Year. For more information on exactly how this process works and the prize information, please refer to: Game of the Year Preview.
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11th Place: NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs IM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0
NM Molner made an interesting piece sacrifice with 19. Nd4?! that created a very tricky position after which neither player was quite able to proceed correctly, but White regained the thread before Black and managed to score an important victory for the New Jersey team.
Below are the comments from the judges on why they ranked the game where they did and in parentheses is the ranking given by that judge and the number of points awarded for that ranking.
FM Robby Adamson (4th Place, 17 points): I like this game for numerous reasons. First, Mackenize sacrificed a piece - something that wasn't super obvious, but it was thematic. Second, after some stiff resistance from Kaufman, Mackenzie defended well, finding the backwards but sexy 24. Qc1. The following tactics favored Mackenzie and after 33. Qd7, none of Black's pieces could move. A nice game that had a lot of creativity. I award this game seventeen points.
WGM Jennifer Shahade (7th Place, 14 points): I had a really hard time deciding amongst the games between 7th and 12th. All but one fell into the same category for me. Really nice games with special tactics, but sort of one-sided shows in which their opponents fell with not too much resistance. I ranked this one in 7th because I thought the Qc1 backtrack was unusual. I also thought the final zugzwang was very aesthetic.
FM Ron Young (12th Place, 9 points): Steinitz and Petrosian in their days astonished the masses by moving their pieces to the first rank. Molner follows their example but with the added touch of sacrificing a piece first. I read that the computer gave Black about a two pawn edge at one point, but Kaufman has written about the shifting values of the pieces, so maybe this game was one example of that phenomenon.
NM Dennis Monokroussos (14th Place, 7 points): Very creative opening play by Molner, who went after Kaufman like he was facing a patzer in blitz. Remarkably, his conception was sound, and if he had continued to play as well as he did through move 19 the game would have ranked more highly. At this point he started making errors, and by the time he played 23. Nd1 and 24. Qc1 he wasn't making ingenious attacking moves; he was holding on for his life! Luckily for Molner, Kaufman lost the thread a few moves later, and after his final error, 26... Qxg7? (26... f4! is still tenable), White regained control and won without any further difficulty.
GM Alex Shabalov (19th Place, 2 points): Wizard's Apprentice vs Kaufman. Weird opening, but good recognition by Mackenzie for starting a nice attack and finishing it on its second wave.
Total Score of Molner vs Kaufman: (11th Place, 49 Points)
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Stay tuned for nine more such articles as the field shrinks by one game each week to see which of the following games will be the 2007 Game of the Year!
Week 3: IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs GM Hikaru Nakamura (NY) 1-0 Article
Week 4: GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 0-1 Article
Week 6: GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs GM Patrick Wolff (SF) 1-0 Article
Week 7: IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 0-1 Article
Wildcard Round: FM Marcel Martinez (MIA) vs IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) 1-0 Article
Semifinals: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Drasko Boskovic (DAL) 0-1 Article
Championship: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #2: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #3: IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #7: IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0 Article
Eliminated:
11th Place (49 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs IM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0 Article
12th Place (44 Points): IM Dmitry Zilberstein (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
13th Place (44 Points): NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) vs FM Marc Arnold (NY) 1-0 Article
14th Place (43 Points): IM Eric Tangborn (SEA) vs IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) 0-1 Article
15th Place (35 Points): IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs IM John Bartholomew (DAL) 1-0 Article
16th Place (35 Points): GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs IM Ron Burnett (TEN) 1-0 Article
17th Place (35 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Mackenzie Molner (NJ) 1-0 Article
18th Place (30 Points): FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 0-1 Article
19th Place (29 Points): IM Josh Friedel (SF) vs IM Lev Milman (CAR) 0-1 Article
20th Place (7 Points): IM Jay Bonin (NY) vs NM Denys Shmelov (BOS) 1-0 Article
Once again, a very small change in the overall make-up of the judges' standings, though for the third consecutive week the lead has switched between GM Shabalov and NM Monokroussos. I continue to maintain the overall lead, but I fear I may have a rather tenuous hold of it as the two games I would have ranked 17th and 16th (Molner vs Kaufman and Smith vs Perelshteyn) have yet to make their exit and obviously at this point where ever those games do wind up being eliminated is going to cause me a fair hit in the standings (while for the five judges, the only rankings between 16th and 20th which remain are GM Shabalov's 19th place game and FM Young's 16th place game). Nevertheless, it's basically impossible for me to not emerge victorious in the end so I'm not overly concerned. Here's how things look now.
1st Place: Alex Shabalov (20, 12, 16, 15, 17, 10, 18, 9, 13): 26 Points
2nd Place: Dennis Monokroussos (20, 13, 19, 18, 12, 17, 7, 11, 16): 27 Points
3rd Place: Ron Young (20, 19, 13, 9, 7, 18, 14, 17, 11): 30 Points
4th Place: Robby Adamson (20, 12, 19, 16, 17, 6, 18, 10, 5): 33 Points
5th Place: Jennifer Shahade (18, 20, 8, 12, 17, 19, 5, 14, 16): 37 Points
and the two non-judges,
Arun Sharma (20, 19, 18, 11, 12, 15, 5, 9, 13): 24 Points
Braden Bournival (19, 20, 9, 17, 7, 4, 18, 14, 15, 16): 45 Points
We'll see if my theory of my inevitable triumph can hold true through the following week!
