Game of the Year -- 10th Place

This is the eleventh 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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10th Place: IM Daniel Rensch (ARZ) vs WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (LA) 1-0






















Unconcerned about his opponent being on the verge of having two Queens on the board, IM Rensch boldly plunged forward with 29. Nxh7! with his Kingside pressure eventually trumping Black's extra 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.



GM Jan Gustafsson (3rd Place, 18 points): A very standard French Winawer line, where Abrahamyan goes astray with 23... bxa4?, h6 or g6 had to be played to take some Kingside precautions. Rensch punishing it ruthlessly, allowing Black to get two Queens while just crushing through on the Kingside is quite pretty.



FM Ingvar Johannesson (5th Place, 16 points): Too many people pounding on my French in this GOTY contest! That being said, fortunately the opening wasn't to blame as I think the struggle in the early middlegame was interesting and not easy to find the best moves or plans. Perhaps Black could have defended better at some point and 23... g6 has been pointed out elsewhere. That however leaves big holes on the dark squares, and White has a quick Nf2-g4 so things are not all that clear. The attack however was very nice, not often you get to see an opponent allowed to Queen in broad daylight! Even though one or two moves could have been more accurate overall, I think the attack was a nice creative effort by White, and I like this game!



FM Ron Young (8th Place, 13 points): If you don't count the King as a piece, White's play was refreshingly unmaterialistic. If you do, then it was refreshingly brutal.



GM Robert Hess (15th Place, 6 points): This game was a nice tactical war, with Rensch coming out on top. However, both sides had very real chances throughout. It looks to me that Tatev's sole mistake was not playing 23... h6. This allowed Danny to control the h-file and crash through. It's amazing the difference … h6 made to the game's … g6. White has a dark squared Bishop, so clogging up those squares surely made sense. However, Tatev's plan was logical and almost worked, if not for Danny's exquisite technique.



WIM Alisa Melekhina (19th Place, 2 points): The French saw much maneuvering with little activity before move 22 while both sides were implicitly preparing for a breakthrough. Suddenly the game took a sharp turn, but reduced to a calculation-heavy (albeit entertaining and intricate!) Pawn-race-like sequence where it's almost as if Abrahamyan queened first, but Rensch had the bonus “long-diagonal check” upon reaching the final rank.



Total Score of Rensch vs Abrahamyan: (10th Place, 55 Points)


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Stay tuned for nine 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 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:


10th Place (55 Points): IM Daniel Rensch (ARZ) vs WFM Tatev Abrahamyan (LA) 1-0 Article Elimination Article

11th Place (53 Points): GM Yury Shulman (STL) vs IM Florin Felecan (CHC) 0-1 Article Elimination Article

12th Place (46 Points): GM Josh Friedel (SF) vs GM Varuzhan Akobian (SEA) 1-0 Article Elimination Article

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