Wildcard Game #7

Wildcard #7: IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0


Just as last year, we Game of the Week judges seemed to be headed towards a large argument when choosing the final Wildcard for the GOTY contest; hence, to avoid all the turmoil that was clearly going to be inevitable when coming to a consensus on the final game, we decided to use a fairly democratic system for choosing it. One of us would pick nine candidate games to start off, the second would narrow those nine games to three, the last would narrow those three to one, and presto we'd have it! A fairly agreeable system to all of us, and after a random selection, I wound up being in the first spot, Greg the second, and Jonathan the third. My nine choices were (in order of when they were played from earliest to latest)


IM Bryan Smith (PHI) vs IM Eli Vovsha (QNS) 0-1

FM Slava Mikhailuk (SEA) vs FM Peter Bereolos (TEN) 0-1

GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 1-0

FM Todd Andrews (TEN) vs IM Jan Van de Mortel (CHC) 0-1

IM Angelo Young (CHC) vs FM Peter Bereolos (CHC) 1-0

IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0

IM Sam Shankland (SF) vs FM John Bick (TEN) 1-0

GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs IM Dmitry Schneider (QNS) 1-0

IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) 1-0


and then Greg narrowed it down to:


GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 1-0

IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0

GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs IM Dmitry Schneider (QNS) 1-0


and Jonathan picked:


IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0


and so with that the Game of the Year entrants are set! The twenty games are:


Week 1: GM Alex Shabalov (NY) vs SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) 0-1 Article

Week 2: IM Vinay Bhat (SF) vs IM Emory Tate (CHC) 1-0 Article

Week 3: GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) vs GM Sergey Kudrin (PHI) 1-0 Article

Week 4: IM Lev Milman (CAR) vs GM Alex Shabalov (NY) 1-0 Article

Week 5: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs IM David Pruess (SF) 1-0 Article

Week 6: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs FM Oleg Zaikov (CAR) 1-0 Article

Week 7: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs IM Dean Ippolito (NJ) 1-0 Article

Week 8: GM Sergey Erenburg (BAL) vs SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) 1-0 Article

Week 9: GM Sergey Kudrin (PHI) vs GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) 1/2-1/2 Article

Week 10: GM Jaan Ehlvest (TEN) vs GM Sergey Erenburg (BAL) 1/2-1/2 Article

Quarterfinals: IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs GM Vinay Bhat (SF) 1-0 Article

Semifinals: FM Oleg Zaikov (CAR) vs SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) 1/2-1/2 Article

Championship: GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs IM Marko Zivanic (DAL) 1-0 Article

Wildcard #1: IM Alex Lenderman (QNS) vs IM Emory Tate (CHC) 1-0 Article

Wildcard #2: GM Joel Benjamin (NJ) vs GM Sergey Erenburg (BAL) 0-1 Article

Wildcard #3: GM Patrick Wolff (SF) vs IM Marko Zivanic (DAL) 1/2-1/2 Article

Wildcard #4: IM Dmitry Schneider (QNS) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0 Article

Wildcard #5: GM Jaan Ehlvest (TEN) vs IM Rogelio Barcenilla (ARZ) 1-0 Article

Wildcard #6: FM Bruci Lopez (MIA) vs GM Gregory Serper (SEA) 1-0 Article

Wildcard #7: IM Davorin Kuljasevic (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0 Article


And so now everything leading up to the GOTY contest is complete; what's left is to allow our judges the adequate time to make their selections and then reveal those selections to you readers. So keep a close eye on the USCL website as the results will start being released in early January, and this year's Game of the Year winner and the $500 prize that goes with it will be revealed in early February!