This is the seventh 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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14th Place: IM Robert Hungaski (NE) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 1-0
A long string of captures began with 13. Nxd5!?, but eventually IM Hungaski got the best of the complications scoring an interesting victory.
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 Ingvar Johannesson (7th Place, 14 points): A really enjoyable game. Very exciting sequence of captures and discovered attacks and maddening chaos. Surprisingly it seems White is more or less was doing well after ... Ne4 and had the game under great control. Also White must get credit for moves like f3 and putting the King on h4 towards the end of the game. Great tactical effort by White and looks almost mistake free by Hungaski!
FM Ron Young (9th Place, 12 points): Peter Brady with his "Three Desperadoes" had nothing on this game. I can even see why the guy hung up on him. I checked my chess encyclopedia and found that though there is an "Immortal Zugzwang Game" there was as of publishing no "Immortal Desperado Game" so until demonstrated otherwise, I consider this to be it.
GM Jan Gustafsson (14th Place, 7 points): I always enjoy sequences like the one started with 13. Nxd5, where both sides take something on every half-move. Should have lead to rough equality here, after 19… Re8 Black has enough compensation for the Pawn he lost in the Pacman action. 19... Qf5? and 20.. Rc8 wasn't the way though, and after 21. f3 it's all over.
WIM Alisa Melekhina (15th Place, 6 points): The calculation-ridden sequence beginning with 13. Nxd5 saw the White Knight take a unique trajectory from d5-c7-e8-g7! Schroer ended up slightly worse after the situation calmed down and seemed to have lost his nerve a bit by playing the precarious 21... Nxd4. Hungaski persevered through the slightly inaccurate but understandable 25. Kg1 instead of Kg3, and still managed to overpower Black with strong play by two minor pieces vs. Black's Rook.
GM Robert Hess (19th Place, 2 points): Schroer won the opening battle in this QGD Ragozin Defence. Black looked to be holding his own if he just played 12... Ne7 or something like that. Instead, Hungaski took immediate control of the calculations and converted with subpar follow-up by Schroer.
Total Score of Hungaski vs Schroer: (14th Place, 41 Points)
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Stay tuned for thirteen 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 7: IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) vs GM Giorgi Kacheishvili (NY) 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:
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
4 comments:
I had this in 4th place, solid.
A member of the New England team told me (thru our manager Craig Jones) that I would have been much better after 17... Nxb4!! Yes, after 18.axb4 Rc8 white is in trouble no matter where Qc2 goes. Throwing in Ne6 for white at any point does not help much, if at all.
It is noteworthy that none of the uber-strong judges found 17... Nxb4!! When I ran the game on Rybka, it did not find it either. Only when I directly input 17... Nxb4!!, did it analyze it to a big advantage for black. The move is very hard to find, maybe because humans (and even computers?!) are used to looking for discovered attacks, not first flailing with the piece in the way (Nc6) and then making the obvious threat (Rc8).
Of course, I looked at 17... Rc8, but then 18.Kxg2 allows 19.Qxe4 in response to a discovered attack from Rc8 after Nc6 moves. By playing 17... Nxb4!! first, and only then 18.axb4 Rc8, white has no time for Kxg2, because his queen is always attacked. I am pretty sure I even looked at 17... Nxd4??, which fails because after 18.exd4, Bc1 prevents ... Qg5. My filter vs. the decentralizing and seemingly random 17... Nxb4!! was too strong to allow me to analyze the move properly.
Thanks for that, I missed that as well. This is the first time I think the judges really missed the mark, this was the most exciting game of the entire list in my opinion, I had this at 4th and was thinking of even moving it into the top 3.
http://lizzyknowsall.blogspot.com/2010/12/im-greg-shahade-schooled-by-10-year-old.html
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