Game of the Year -- 7th Place

This is the fourteenth 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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


7th Place: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 1-0






















GM Becerra capitalized on his dangerous initiative with 27. Rd1!, winning decisive material.



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 (2nd Place, 19 points): It's amazing that someone could defeat such a strong grandmaster as Stripunsky inside of thirty moves without even giving any material away, save for a single sealer-sweeper pawn sac. This may seem paradoxical to you if you do not have a high degree of chess culture, but it is true nonetheless.



NM Dennis Monokroussos (3rd Place, 18 points): A very attractive attacking game by Becerra, who showed that the "safe" Kan isn't so bullet-proof after all, even in the hands of a strong GM like Stripunsky. White's play flowed beautifully throughout, and poor Stripunsky never had a chance.



GM Alex Shabalov (8th Place, 13 points): There were a couple of games like this last year. Nice positional attack with a pawn sac but too one wayish to be a top contender.



WGM Jennifer Shahade (13th Place, 8 points): This is a very nice game in which Becerra plays almost perfectly, and makes Stripunsky look like a much weaker player. I had a really hard time deciding between games 7-12. 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. As clean as this game was, it wasn't particularly surprising, so that's why I ranked it 13th. Although to be honest, it's hard to be objective when you know who the players are: If a 2300 won this exact game against Stripunsky, I probably would have given it a higher ranking. Unfortunately, with Becerra winning in this way, it seems more like a natural result, and the strongest impression it leaves me with is that "Stripunsky needs to work on this Sicilian line."



FM Robby Adamson (13th Place, 8 points): Although not privy to how the other judges voted, I am guessing I am going to judge this game harsher than others. Becerra played exceptionally in this game, but Stripunsky basically got killed in a game where his King was stuck in the center. Julio finishes it off with a nice tactic. I award this game eight points.


Total Score of Becerra vs Stripunsky: (7th Place, 66 Points)


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Stay tuned for five 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


Eliminated:


7th Place (66 Points): GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (QNS) 1-0 Article

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