Game of the Year -- 9th Place

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