This is the eighth part in a series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2010 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: IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) vs GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) 1-0
IM Schroer struck with the nice shot 15. Bxe6! With the tactics working out in White's favor, this soon ballooned into a comfortable two Pawn edge that Schroer converted quickly.
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.
WIM Alisa Melekhina (4th Place, 17 points): Perhaps every player's worst nightmare is to make a careless mistake in the opening that results in a quick and merciless finish. Such was the case in this impressive miniature-like game with Schroer's fierce tactical melee beginning with 14. Ne4 and ending in a decisive two Pawn advantage that Kacheishvili was never given the chance to recuperate from.
GM Jan Gustafsson (4th Place, 17 points): Good stuff! That 11... Rd8, 12... Bf8 plan seems a bit slow, to put it mildly. 11... Bd7 intending Nc6 looks normalish. 13... Nd7 already looks like the decisive mistake, the punishment 14. Ne4! and 15. Bxe6+! ain't obvious though. Schroer finishes efficiently, never allowing a comeback.
FM Ingvar Johannesson (16th Place, 5 points): A nice win for Schroer and a slight upset. The moves Bxe6 and Nd6 on move 15 and 16 make a great aesthetic impression. After that the game was simply over and was taken smoothly to home base by Schroer. An off day for Kacheishvili but still well done by Schroer. I lowered the ranking of this game when I saw that in Vasilevich-Matveeva that 15. Bxe6 was still played and worked after 14... Qe7 instead of 14... Qh4 chosen by Giorgi. Therefore this is just a bad variation and slightly kills the creative effort!
FM Ron Young (19th Place, 2 points): As I sit at the bar in my local place during its Christmas party, looking over this game once more as I type up these notes, the radio is playing "we need a little Christmas right this very minute". This seems a good example of what the psychologist Carl Jung (no relation) called "synchronicity".
GM Robert Hess (20th Place, 1 point): Nobody can argue that Schroer had better preparation for this game than Kacheishvili. However, this game was too simplistic. White achieved a nice advantage, and Black made a huge blunder with 13... Nd7. The rest was easy.
Total Score of Schroer vs Kacheishvili: (13th Place, 42 Points)
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Stay tuned for twelve more such articles as the field shrinks by one game almost every day to see which of the following games will be the 2010 Game of the Year!
Week 1: GM Yury Shulman (STL) vs GM Melikset Khachiyan (LA) 1-0 Article
Week 2: GM Yury Shulman (STL) vs IM Florin Felecan (CHC) 0-1 Article
Week 3: IM Daniel Rensch (ARZ) vs WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (LA) 1-0 Article
Week 4: GM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Varuzhan Akobian (SEA) 1-0 Article
Week 6: GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) vs GM Jesse Kraai (SF) 1-0 Article
Week 8: IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) vs GM Larry Christiansen (BOS) 0-1 Article
Week 10: SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) 1-0 Article
Championship: IM Sam Shankland (NE) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #1: NM Eric Rosen (CHC) vs Alex Guo (SEA) 0-1 Article
Wildcard #2: GM Varuzhan Akobian (SEA) vs GM Yury Shulman (STL) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #3: GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) vs IM Sam Shankland (NE) 0-1 Article
Wildcard #4: GM Alex Stripunsky (MAN) vs GM Sergey Erenburg (BAL) 0-1 Article
Eliminated:
13th Place (42 Points): IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) vs GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
14th Place (41 Points): IM Robert Hungaski (NE) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
15th Place (40 Points): NM Ilya Krasik (BOS) vs NM Adithya Balasubramanian (BAL) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
16th Place (40 Points): Nicholas Rosenthal (MIA) vs NM Nick Thompson (ARZ) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
17th Place (35 Points): GM Varuzhan Akobian (SEA) vs GM Josh Friedel (SF) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
18th Place (31 Points): GM Dmitry Gurevich (CHC) vs IM Rogelio Barcenilla (ARZ) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
19th Place (27 Points): FM Charles Galofre (MIA) vs FM Marcel Milat (SEA) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
20th Place (23 Points): SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) vs IM Sasha Kaplan (BAL) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
This game was worthy gow...NOT. Hess saves the day and spares us the embarr
ReplyDeleteassment. Day off for giorgo and everyone gets moist right away.
this game may not have been perfect, but it was a helluva lot better than the 2 shankland games which had 0 tactics
ReplyDeletethe USCL should post updates on their fb more often.
ReplyDeleteIt is now increasingly clear that the placement of the games is the same as a random number generator. Some people give a game a top 10 ranking, and then 1 person gives it a 20th place. The spread on these rankings is so high that the outcome is random.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how it ends up at the top, but my guess is that the winner will be a game with the lowest variance, maybe consistent rankings around 7-10th place. The winner might not even get a Top 3 vote.
so much for a game every day, such a liar greg is
ReplyDelete