This is the eighth part in a series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2009 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 Contest.
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13th Place: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) 0-1
After GM Becerra's attack fizzled out, GM Kacheishvili struck back with a vicious counterattack, starting with 30... b3!, and soon brought the USCL Championship home to the New York Knights.
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 Robert Hess (3rd Place, 18 points): Wow. Becerra typically plays uninspiring yet solid openings. This game, albeit being a blitz game, was of quite high quality. The importance of this game (which, I have not taken into account for any of the games, including this one) was obvious: Winner takes the Championship. Both players kept their respective "cools", but Becerra's attack seemed flat. In the Sicilian, if White isn't killing Black, a lot of the time it is vice-versa.
GM Gregory Kaidanov (9th Place, 12 points): Very nice Sicilian game but no interesting tactics.
GM Alex Yermolinsky (10th Place, 11 points): This one would have won the MIG (most important game) award hands down, but I'm having a tough time ranking a blitz game higher than this.
FM Ron Young (18th Place, 3 points): The tsunami of emotion that swept up all who followed this match and then the second wave that engulfed those who read Irina Krush's account of Kacheishvili's heroic "Not for me. For them." tiebreaker performance makes it hard to look at this game objectively. In fact, I put off trying to do so till Dick Clark came on to remind me of the passage of time. And now, #18 seems about right. It is a creditable game, but not spectacular, and how many people do I want to dis by ranking their masterpieces below a blitz game?
WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (20th Place, 1 point): After realizing that this was a blitz game, it was a little hard to put it in the same category as the others. A very important game played by very strong players but a blitz game nonetheless. I don't think it would be fair to compare it to the rest of the games.
Total Score of Becerra vs Kacheishvili: (13th Place, 45 Points)
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Stay tuned for eleven more such articles as the field shrinks by one game every day to see which of the following games will be the 2009 Game of the Year!
Week 1: IM Dean Ippolito (NJ) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 1-0 Article
Week 3: GM Boris Gulko (NJ) vs FM Oleg Zaikov (CAR) 1-0 Article
Week 5: GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) vs GM Josh Friedel (SF) 1-0 Article
Week 6: GM Alejandro Ramirez (ARZ) vs GM Joel Benjamin (NJ) 1-0 Article
Week 7: IM Daniel Fernandez (DAL) vs FM Oleg Zaikov (CAR) 0-1 Article
Week 8: IM John Bartholomew (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0 Article
Week 9: IM John Bartholomew (DAL) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 0-1 Article
Quarterfinals: GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) vs GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) 1-0 Article
Semifinals: GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) vs IM Dean Ippolito (NJ) 1/2-1/2 Article
Wildcard #4: NM Matt Herman (NY) vs FM Daniel Naroditsky (SF) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #5: SM Marc Esserman (BOS) vs FM Ron Simpson (CAR) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #7: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Josh Friedel (SF) 1-0 Article
Eliminated:
13th Place (45 Points): GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) 0-1 Article Elimination Article
14th Place (43 Points): GM Jaan Ehlvest (TEN) vs GM Alejandro Ramirez (ARZ) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
15th Place (39 Points): FM Victor Shen (NJ) vs IM Marc Esserman (BOS) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
16th Place (36 Points): IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) vs GM Jaan Ehlvest (TEN) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
17th Place (35 Points): GM Gregory Serper (SEA) vs IM Jan van de Mortel (CHC) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
18th Place (35 Points): FM Andrei Zaremba (QNS) vs SM Marc Esserman (BOS) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
19th Place (30 Points): SM Marc Esserman (BOS) vs FM Tom Bartell (PHI) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
20th Place (24 Points): GM Josh Friedel (SF) vs IM Marko Zivanic (DAL) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
3 comments:
I am sorry to say this but I am deeply dissapointed in two judges who are not even Im's and yet were not willing to recognize truly a great clutch game and truly a great masterpiece simply because it is a blitz game, and didn't bother really looking into it. In this blitz game alone you can learn more than maybe in 2 or 3 games combined. Very sorry about this but I had to say this, I really disagree with ranking this game so low. Like in all of his games, Giorgi almost always plays aimful games from beginning to the end, even in blitz. This game even had a novelty! And Becerra didn't really play that badly. So hopefully some people will really get to appreciate his game more than people do now.
Alex Lenderman
I am sorry to say but i am deeply dissapointed that someone who isnt even officialy a GM is blasting two judges who arent even IMs about their disdain for a stupid, albeit decisive, blitz game. First of all, I think their judgement proved correct. If we were to judge blitz games and award American DOLLARS for them, then I dont see the point of this grand contest, do you know how many stellar(my subjective opinion) games I got on ICC mr I'm almost-a-gm-Lenderman??--LOTS! I didnt even realize these blitz games were eligible, obviously allowing them to stand in GOY contest was a mistake in and of itself. Lastly,and before anyone else catches on, I want to state for the record that i am not even a GM, IM, FM or even a WFM or WCM so you are more than welcome to blast my judgment and my comments.
Well first of all, I did not offend anybody with my comments, I only stated I think judges made a mistake at their judgement. This game got in over the game Becerra vs Kacheishvili which Becerra won. THat was an arguable decision as both games were very nice. If Becerra vs Kacheishvili, where Becerra won from the Championship would've gotten in, it would've likely finished in top 5 and would've had great chances at top 3 or even first two. But three judges voted for this game. So that means this definitely was something. And I completely understand ranking this game a little bit lower because it is a blitz game compared to other people, like somewhere in the middle of the pack like 7th-12th place. I would understand that. But to offend this game and Giorgi like this and completely ignore this masterpiece just because it was blitz; a game which I would be very happy to play in a long game, is not justified by me. By the way no reason to hide your name for this, be a man and shout out your opinion, don't hide!
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