A creative sacrifice by FM Gulamali in the final week of the regular season nets him a middle spot in the Game of the Year Contest.
This is the eleventh part in a series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2012 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: FM Kazim Gulamali (BOS) vs GM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0
After a creative sacrifice, FM Gulamali nicely finished the game with the attractive sequence 28. Rh8+! Bxh8 29. Qh7+ Kf8 30. Bb4+!
GM Alejandro Ramirez (1st Place, 20 Points): This game has everything I’m looking for in a game of the day. White sacrifices a Knight without any clear continuation, simply out of intuition. The attack is powerful but not devastating – and he never shies from making good moves to simply improve his position. Black cracks under pressure and allows a winning combination.
FM Alisa Melekhina (5th Place, 16 Points): Black managed to eliminate the meddlesome French light-squared Bishop, but that didn’t stop Gulamali from going through with the daring 17. g4. The excellent intuitive piece sacrifice was worth it to expose the Black King on the f, g, and h files. Black’s “extra” piece, the Bishop on d7, was reduced to a Pawn-like bystander. Eventually, it even hindered the escape of the Black King that made the forceful 28. Rh8+ and 30. Bb4+ possible.
The sacrifice was very close to being proven unsuccessful, but overall the game featured inspired play against the French from White, and active play from Black under the circumstances.
FM Ron Young (8th Place, 13 Points): I believe it was Rudolph Spielman who defined a “real” sacrifice as one in which the computer returns a negative evaluation at the end of its search horizon. Black’s 26… Bg7 had the appearance of careful, but turned out to have been like crossing when the light is with you but a big truck is coming anyway.
GM-elect Robert Hungaski (11th Place, 10 Points): When you play over a game and then ask yourself to give a brief synopsis of it, what elements do you consider? What would you say about this game? I liked this game because it was not it appeared to be. The game appeared to be White mounting a successful attack on Black. But actually, it was more about White being able to neutralize Black’s counterplay. If anything, in most lines Black’s attack appears to be much stronger. The key idea that turned the tables in this game was the pragmatic King march to the Kingside that started with 24. Kd1! After this the momentum shifted completely in White’s favor.
GM Alex Yermolinsky (11th Place, 10 Points): Kaufman was thrown off his preparation by the rare 6. dc5 move. The line itself is not known to be very dangerous for Black but it was a perfect fit for Gulamali’s game plan. He eschewed a safe advantage in the endgame in favor of the objectively weaker 14. Ng5. Clearly, he wanted as sharp a game as possible. Kaufman could have granted the opponent his wishes by starting a swift counterattack against the White King with 16… b5, but he wanted to force the Queen trade to reach his safety zone. Gulamali would have none of it and he sacrificed his Knight. Objectively, Black should have won this game, but fortune favors the brave and Gulamali was rewarded for his enterprising play when Kaufman made a big error on move 26.
IM David Pruess (19th Place, 2 Points): This might be one where I should have checked with a computer (or a stronger player) to find out that, shockingly, White’s play was sound, and Black was brilliantly defeated. The very fact that this is in the GOTY contest suggests this. But, I did not do that. So we are going to go with my sense that White took a nice opening position, played a sacrifice that was not sound, and then got lucky when Black blundered.
Total Score of Gulamali vs Kaufman: (10th Place, 71 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 2012 Game of the Year!
Week 3: SM Robert Perez (MIA) vs GM Julio Sadorra (DAL) 0-1 Article
Week 5: GM Vladimir Romanenko (MAN) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (NJ) 0-1 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
Quarterfinals: SM Matt Herman (NY) vs IM Eli Vovsha (MAN) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #1: GM Mikheil Kekelidze (CON) vs FM Kassa Korley (CAR) 0-1 Article
Wildcard #2: GM Alex Stripunsky (NJ) vs GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) 0-1 Article
Wildcard #4: IM Priyadharshan Kannappan (STL) vs FM Kassa Korley (CAR) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #7: GM Alex Stripunsky (NJ) vs SM Jorge Sammour-Hasbun (BOS) 0-1 Article
Eliminated:
10th Place (71 Points): FM Kazim Gulamali (BOS) vs GM Larry Kaufman (BAL) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
11th Place (66 Points): FM Eric Rodriguez (MIA) vs IM Justin Sarkar (CON) 1/2-1/2 Article Elimination Article
12th Place (59 Points): IM Mackenzie Molner (ARZ) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
13th Place (59 Points): GM Vladimir Romanenko (MAN) vs GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
14th Place (58 Points): IM Georgi Orlov (SEA) vs GM Conrad Holt (DAL) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
15th Place (57 Points): NM Jared Defibaugh (BAL) vs NM Justus Williams (NY) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
16th Place (48 Points): GM Ben Finegold (STL) vs GM Niclas Huschenbeth (BAL) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
17th Place (37 Points): NM Joshua Sinanan (SEA) vs IM Shahin Mohandesi (ARZ) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
18th Place (33 Points): SM Denys Shmelov (BOS) vs GM Conrad Holt (DAL) 1/2-1/2 Article Elimination Article
19th Place (30 Points): FM Ralph Zimmer (BAL) vs NM Joshua Colas (CON) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
20th Place (17 Points): IM Georgi Orlov (SEA) vs SM William Fisher (PHI) 1/2-1/2 Article Elimination Article