In another very close vote, long time USCL mainstay FM Tom Bartell netted his first Game of the Week honor as he helped the Inventors climb back to the 50% mark and to second place in their division.
1st Place: GM Emil Anka (SEA) vs FM Tom Bartell (PHI) 0-1
In a nice tactical display, with 21… Bxb2+!, FM Bartell ended up scoring an impressive win
IM Salvijus Bercys (1st Place, 3 Points): KID spirit game. Didn’t dwell too deep into analysis but this was a nice positional attack. Interesting to watch and easy to digest.
IM Victor Shen (1st Place, 3 Points): Black was out for blood in this one. Not every move was perfect, but you have to appreciate a crushing win with Black against a GM. Honestly though, White was really asking for it with 20. Bxf4. Isn’t there a rule in the King’s Indian that its never good to do that?
FM Alex Barnett (1st Place, 3 Points): This game is siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. KID is so sexy when it works. Just look at this game its beautiful…there are so many interesting ideas and moves in this game, and 21… Bxb2+ is just the icing on the cake, point being that after 22. Kxb2 Rd8 there’s no 23. Nxf5 because 23… Rxd2 is check now… this game is just so sexy OMG everything about this game is legit…this game shows how real men play chess. This was an old school beat down. Winner in my book.
FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (2nd Place, 2 Points): I’m not completely sure what happened in the opening, but Bartell’s King’s Indian yielded him a very strong position and White’s set up was very suspect to me by the time (and even before) he castled Queenside. Already after 19… Re6 White seems to have a losing position as there is no good response to the threat of 20… d5 and checkmate/give me all your pieces. Going for the d6 pawn was a try good as any for Anka but Black’s riposte 21… Bxb2+! was devastating. White’s poor King was having quite a bit of trouble fending off the intruders, and his useless Knight on h2 was no help either. The vast difference in the coordination of the forces was best expressed when Black mounted a checkmating attack even when White managed to exchange Queens. An impressive demolition, but White did not have to get into such a mess.
Chess.com (3rd Place, 1 Points): 26% of vote
Total score of Anka vs Bartell: 12 Points
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2nd Place: GM Alex Stripunsky (NJ) vs GM Melikset Khachiyan (LA) 1-0
In a seemingly drawish line, GM Stripunsky effectively finished off a nice grind with the pseudo-sac 42. Nxg7!, his Queenside Pawns eventually proving triumphant
FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (1st Place, 3 Points): Briefly menacing to play the London, GM Stripunsky steered the game into the popular e3 Slav set up in which he obtained a pleasant position due to his spatial superiority. Even though Black used the familiar antidotes in this structure (the 17… e5 break and the 16… Bd8, 19…Bc7 maneuver to neutralize the powerful counterpart), White still retained some nagging edge due to Black’s misplaced Knight on h5 and his space edge. The critical moment of the game was 25… Ne6? Instead it seems to me that 25… Bd3 is promising with the idea to reroute Black’s cavalry more appropriately. Following the appropriate exchange of two minor pieces, Stripunsky ruthlessly exploited Black’s Swiss cheese dark squares with a temporary Pawn sacrifice and the attractive 42. Nxg7! hammer which probably was sighted back on move 37. White’s clean and instructive squeeze of his Grandmaster opponent was certainly my favorite this week.
Chess.com (1st Place, 3 Point): 46% of vote
IM Salvijus Bercys (2nd Place, 2 Points): Simple and impressive positional squeeze. Only problem was that I felt Black chose this position to play for a draw … go back to GOTW 1 for my thoughts on playing for a draw…
IM Victor Shen (2nd Place, 2 Points): Looks like Melik got a big careless in a drawn endgame - 25…Ne6 looks like a positional mistake, allowing White some juicy dark square play. “The King is a strong piece”, said someone famous who probably didn’t know how the Queen moved.
FM Alex Barnett (3rd Place, 1 Point): This game is good but in more of a subtle way. It is of course high quality…but it’s boring until the endgame. It starts out zzzz London System, but then White turns up the heat when it gets to R+N vs R+B ending. I love when the Knight owns the Bishop in an ending, and this is a very instructive example of that. The technique was good too, very creative ideas by White throughout, but not as entertaining as the first two games. Still good though.
Total score of Stripunsky vs Khachiyan: 11 Points
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3rd Place: IM Levon Altounian (ARZ) vs IM Eli Vovsha (MAN) 1-0
Having gained the upper hand in the Queenless middlegame, IM Altounian plunged forward with 26. d6!, soon achieving a decisive advantage
FM Alex Barnett (2nd Place, 2 Points): This game is funny lol. In the opening White’s Queen rolling everywhere and then both Kings having to move to d1/d8 respectively … if I didn’t know any better and I saw the position around move 13, I would think that it was a game between two players under 1500. But of course it wasn’t … White hit Black with the sexy endgame technique, and Black couldn’t move. The torture was too much, and White eventually tore the house down. GG
Chess.com (2nd Place, 2 Points): 28% of vote
IM Salvijus Bercys (3rd Place, 1 Point): Solid game by White but, boy, did Black make it easy. Why is this third rather than second? Second place Black played for a draw. This game Black played to lose. Sometimes nothing clicks in your plans, and that’s what I think happened to Black. Everyone has those games from time to time.
IM Victor Shen (3rd Place, 1 Point): Eli Vovsha continues his attempt to lose Game of the Year for the second consecutive year, but Altounian says no thanks and swaps the Queens as soon as he can. Eli then accidentally outdoes himself by putting all of his pieces on strange squares, neglects his King, and plays so poorly that the game cannot even qualify for GOTW. I’m only half joking. Maybe not even half.
FM Aleksandr Ostrovskiy (3rd Place, 1 Point): After a clever series of moves by the pendulum, White emerged from the opening with a very nice position. 15. Bg5+ and 16. Be3 was good as well because once we have a theme for the game we must follow through with it. Altounian slowly built up a very powerful central/Queenside presence while Vovsha’s pieces hunched together in fear. White’s pressure paid off in the form of both a material and strategic advantage, granting him a won game. Altounian wrapped up the game in a slow and fun to watch manner, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching a Round 1 Open section battle, and needless to say, Vovsha is much stronger than that.
Total score of Altounian vs Vovsha: 7 Points