Though, just like last week, this win wound up being for naught for his team, the creative sacrificial win wound up edging out the match deciding victory of IM Orlov.
1st Place: SM Matt Herman (NY) vs IM Eli Vovsha (MAN) 1-0
SM Herman began a sacrificial melee with 20. Rxf7?! After many interesting moments, White eventually proved triumphant, winning a super exciting game
IM John Bartholomew (1st Place, 2 Points): The spectators ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’, one competitor lamented his play on Facebook, and Houdini shed a few tears. Nevertheless, SM Herman played a heck of an attacking game and deserves this Quarterfinal GOTW win. Yes, there were at least a few mutual errors (the unflappable engine rejects the sacrificial barrage 20. Rxf7!!? Kxf7 21. Nxe6), but at no point did White’s attack ever spiral out of control. IM Vovsha just never found a way out of the complications and eventually succumbed to Herman’s neat clincher, 23. f5! Ke8 24. Nxf8 Rxf8 25. f6 +-. Vintage USCL.
IM Victor Shen (1st Place, 2 Points):Yeah, maybe not a perfect game, but let’s remember that we are humans, not computers. SM Herman may not have executed the attack correctly with every move, but he did so with almost every move (I will point out that apparently 20. Rxf7 and 21. Nxe6 isn’t winning, and better was Nxe6 straight away). But hey - he was playing a strong IM, and Black didn’t find the best moves. It was a brave sacrifice (though since when has Herman done anything differently?), and it led to a pretty game.
FM Elliot Liu (1st Place, 2 Points): Simply put, this game was awesome. To SM Herman’s credit, he played superbly well. IM Vovsha didn’t make any sort of blunder that I could see. If I had to pick a spot where Black may have gone wrong, I would probably say the moves 13… g6 and 15… d5 were at fault. Regarding 13… g6, it seems as if this move gave White a clear target for ripping open the h-file, which proved to be the decisive factor in the game. As far as 15… d5 is concerned, although I recognize that Black needs to quickly counter in the center of the board, this pawn advance was ineffective. After the simple reply of 16. e5, not only was the center closed, but Black had lost crucial pressure on White’s center pawn structure because Black’s once powerful Bishop on b7 was now hemmed in by its own pawns.
While I think 20. Rxf7! was a fantastic albeit thematic move, my only comment on White’s play is that 20. Nxe6! might have been more straightforward and more efficient. For example, after 20… fxe6, then comes the powerful 21. Qh3! Now if 21… Nf8 for instance, 22. Bxe4 cleans up, and if 21… Rc6, then 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Rd6!!, and I see no defense for Black there.
Ultimately, White’s flashy sacrifices were strong and effective. Black put up a good defensive fight, but the position was understandably too difficult to defend under the circumstances. Maybe a computer could, but trying to survive that position as a human being is objectively extremely hard. A very well played game by both players, definitely deserving Game of the Week honors.
Let’s hope that next week the quality of the Game of the Week Candidates are just like these two games!
GM Alex Yermolinsky (2nd Place, 1 Point)
GM Josh Friedel (2nd Place, 1 Point): SM Herman, as usual, sacrificed a bunch of material, but IM Vovsha really fell on his own sword. Interesting, but way too many mistakes, and White didn’t really do much other than allowing Black to hang himself.
Total score of Herman vs Vovsha: 8 Points
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2nd Place: IM Georgi Orlov (SEA) vs GM Conrad Holt (DAL) 1-0
With Black appearing to be on the verge of some serious counterplay, IM Orlov found the nice shot 31. Rcf6!, keeping up his pressure. After some back and forth play, White eventually pulled out the win and sent his team to the Semifinals.
GM Alex Yermolinsky (1st Place, 2 Points)
GM Josh Friedel (1st Place, 2 Points): Although GM Holt blundered in allowing the decisive Rh4 blow, an interesting game with creativity from both sides.
IM John Bartholomew (2nd Place, 1 Point): IM Orlov defeats arguably the league’s toughest player, GM Holt. White’s 31. Rcf6! was a very fine move, and the subsequent exchange sacrifice appeared to tilt the game in his favor (Black can defend, but it’s not easy). The flow of this game was in stark contrast to Herman-Vovsha, and I may very well have ranked it first in a different week.
IM Victor Shen (2nd Place, 1 Point): Hard fought, but mistakes in time trouble, especially GM Holt’s blunder of his Queen, marred the game a little. Still would’ve been an impressive game had it not gone up against my first pick. Just not quite as memorable in my opinion.
FM Elliot Liu (2nd Place, 1 Point): An unusual opening that seemed a little suspicious for Black, White did not seize the initiative and allowed Black to achieve a decent position. The main reason why I am ranking this game behind Herman vs. Vovsha is due to its lack of accuracy. There were a couple times fairly early on in the game where Orlov failed to gain an advantage and did not capitalize tactically on Holt’s position. Two specific instances: On move 13, I’m wondering why White didn’t play 13. Nxd5 instead of 13. dxe5 as in the game, and on move 18 instead of 18. Nc3, 18. Nc5! looks very promising indeed.
Anyway, 31. Rcf6! was certainly a nice shot by White, and unfortunately for Black, the pressure of the position finally proved too much. In the critical position after 42. Kg3, Black had to play the only move of 42…g5 in order to prevent the deadly threat of Rh4. After forcing Black to give up his Queen the rest was easy for White.
Total score of Orlov vs Holt: 7 Points