Game of the Year -- 10th Place

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