IM Orlov (SEA) vs SM Fisher (PHI) 1/2-1/2 finishes 20th Place in the Game of the Year Contest

Despite the importance of being in the Championship Match, the chosen game from the most important of matches takes the bottom spot in the Game of the Year Contest.

This is the first part in a series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2012 USCL Game of the Year. The entrants are the thirteen Games of the Week along with the seven Wildcards (full list). There are six judges who ranked the games from 1st to 20th. If a game is ranked in 1st place by a judge, it receives 20 points, if it’s ranked 2nd place it receives 19 points, and so on with 20th place receiving 1 point, and the games are then ranked by their total number of points. If there is a tie at a certain total, whichever amongst those games have higher individual rankings will win on tiebreak (e.g., a game which gets 1st + 4th ranking is higher than a game which gets 2nd + 3rd).

The six judges are:

GM Alejandro Ramirez
GM Alex Yermolinsky
GM-elect Robert Hungaski
IM David Pruess
FM Alisa Melekhina
FM Ron Young

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20th Place: IM Georgi Orlov (SEA) vs SM William Fisher (PHI) 1/2-1/2

IM Orlov found the nice resource 59. Qe3!, liquidating the tough ending into an eventual draw, helping the Sluggers win their first Championship.

FM Alisa Melekhina (15th Place, 6 Points): Orlov hastily overreached in his attack as retaliation to a Petroff that he could not have been too pleased about facing. After an inaccurate move order in the opening that led to the loss of the f4 pawn, Orlov compensated by setting as many problems for Black as possible. Unrelenting, he managed to place enough pressure to eventually regain the pawn. The result was a unique Queen ending where it wasn’t clear which side was playing for a win.

In the spirit of Stripunsky from Week 5, the two players fought uncompromisingly with the weight of the Championship on their shoulders. They should be commended for their fighting spirit, especially Fisher for playing formidably against strong opposition. However, looking purely at the game, it was quite messy. It resonates because of its significance as a Championship game rather than for its inherent value.

FM Ron Young (17th Place, 4 Points): Nice little tactical flurry just after the opening, then a little back rank ping pong, and finally an exciting ending with both sides escorting their passed pawns up opposite sides of the board. Maybe it suffers a bit in my mind from being IMO only the second-best Queen ending game nominated. White’s Pawn ending offer was neat but probably more surprising to a computer than to a human.

GM Alejandro Ramirez (18th Place, 3 Points): Why is this even here?

GM-elect Robert Hungaski (19th Place, 2 Points): I was not too crazy about the way Black handled the opening. The idea starting with 10… d5 followed by c5-c4, handing White some critical central squares was very suspect. But just as bad (though logical) seems to have been White’s decision to blow up the Kingside. In fact, all this did was justify Black’s Knight on g6 which up to that point was nothing but dead weight. Instead of 15. g4?, 15. g3 followed by Bg2 looks horrible for Black.

GM Alex Yermolinsky (20th Place, 1 Point): The Nc3 Petroff. An interesting opening choice from Orlov, who is not known as a follower of modern theory. Surprisingly early White obtained a big advantage only to squander it away by the hasty 15. g4. I suspect Orlov simply missed the Nxf4 idea. The resulting position with only major pieces present on the board seemed safe for Black. Fisher, who played very quickly, set up a nice trap that Orlov fell into. Once the Rooks were traded off, Black had real chances to win. Fisher’s mistake was trying to preserve his connected passed Pawns, which is not an important asset in Queen endings. Orlov set up an imaginative defense of his own based on the strength of his Queenside Pawns. Forced to avoid Pawn endings Fisher tried to win with the Queens on, but White’s defense wasn’t that difficult.

IM David Pruess (20th Place, 1 Point): This play by Black with c5-c4, f5 in the opening looks bad. Then somehow Black gets to a winning endgame and ends up only drawing it. I’m left confused and with a bad taste in my mouth. Maybe I just need one of the players to explain the game to me as it is too far outside of my experience.

Total Score of Orlov vs Fisher: (20th Place, 17 Points)

Stay tuned for nineteen more such articles as the field shrinks by one game almost every day to see which of the following games will be the 2012 Game of the Year!

Week 1: GM Vladimir Romanenko (MAN) vs GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) 1-0 Article

Week 2: GM Ben Finegold (STL) vs GM Niclas Huschenbeth (BAL) 1-0 Article

Week 3: SM Robert Perez (MIA) vs GM Julio Sadorra (DAL) 0-1 Article

Week 4: SM Denys Shmelov (BOS) vs GM Conrad Holt (DAL) 1/2-1/2 Article

Week 5: GM Vladimir Romanenko (MAN) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (NJ) 0-1 Article

Week 6: FM Eric Rodriguez (MIA) vs IM Justin Sarkar (CON) 1/2-1/2 Article

Week 7: NM Jared Defibaugh (BAL) vs NM Justus Williams (NY) 1-0 Article

Week 8: GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) vs GM Sam Shankland (NE) 1-0 Article

Week 9: GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) vs SM William Fisher (PHI) 1/2-1/2 Article

Week 10: FM Kazim Gulamali (BOS) vs GM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0 Article

Quarterfinals: SM Matt Herman (NY) vs IM Eli Vovsha (MAN) 1-0 Article

Semifinals: NM Joshua Sinanan (SEA) vs IM Shahin Mohandesi (ARZ) 1-0 Article