A nice GM upset that was heralded for his flashiness but the seeming inaccuracies that often come along with such flash prevented most of the judges from giving it a high ranking.
This is the eighth part in a series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2013 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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13th Place: GM Emil Anka (SEA) vs FM Tom Bartell (PHI) 0-1
Black took advantage of White’s rather dangerous choice to open the long diagonal with 21… Bxb2+!, with the nice tactics eventually working out in his favor
FM Ron Young (2nd Place, 19 Points): In the parlance of professional chess game annotators, an inactive piece is a “spectator”. If White’s King’s Knight, though, had any idea what was happening on the Queenside, it could only have been by detecting a subtle change in the earth’s rotational spin. Still, a notable attack, with the initial “bolt from the blue”, some fairly quiet piece-down play afterward, and even Black’s final mating net would meet the approval of the Euthanasia Society.
FM Alisa Melekhina (5th Place, 16 Points): The KID lives on! A thematic game in which Black tore open the center with a series of invasive tactics following several inaccuracies by White.
To counter Black’s solid f4 Knight, recent theory in the h3 lines suggests holding off on Nh2. Instead, White should consider, playing g3 along with Be2, potentially placing the f3 Knight on a more useful square. White missed the opportunity to tame that f4 knight with 18. g3, after which he either wins the d6 Pawn if 18… Ne6, or if 18… Nxh3 19. exf5 gxf5 20. Nd5!
As usual in the KID, it seems that White is better. The actual value of the advantage is misleading. White may be structurally more sound, but it takes careful play to avoid uncorking Black’s attack. In this case, Anka chose the wrong plan. He opted to exchange his precious dark-squared Bishop and opened up Black’s ineffective dark-squared Bishop. All for the chance of winning the d6 pawn, which is typically “poisoned” anyway.
We saw the crush that led to. After eliminating White’s defenses with the multi-faceted 21… Bxb2+, Bartell won back the piece in style. While he could have been more precise in finishing White off (27… c3 = -5), the suffocating 35… Rb3 makes up for it. Bartell is the hero of the Philly team for this inspired win against a GM.
GM Alex Yermolinsky (11th Place, 10 Points): Emil mishandles the opening, but then by a strange twist of fate he has a two move win. Once he lets this golden opportunity go by, Bartell takes over the game and finishes with a swift attack in the endgame.
FM Ingvar Johannesson (16th Place, 5 Points): On the surface this game is sexy, I agree with that. But upon analyzing it a little bit my enthusiasm faded a little bit. Black seemed to get a very good position out of a King’s Indian but gave White a chance to correct his earlier aimless play with 18. g3 putting a question to the Knight on f4 which would have forced it to a weird square on h3 or sacrificing a Pawn with 18… Ne6 which is more in KID spirit. Instead White totally asked for it with 20. Bxf4? which just seems like a clear blunder losing a piece since moving anything away from e4 allows a devastating entry into the game by the Black Knight with …Nc5. After the blunder the game was easy for Black and almost anything should win with all the pieces pointing in the right direction. I didn’t like some of the moves and this felt more like a good blitz game than a standard time control.
IM Jake Kleiman (17th Place, 4 Points): This was a fun game! However, it was a bit sloppy for my taste. I give some cool points for the unusual mating net.
GM Alejandro Ramirez (19th Place, 2 Points): It’s impossible for me to rate a Game of the Year highly when flashy and incorrect tactics are chosen over a simple and clean win.
Total Score of Anka vs Bartell: (13th Place, 56 Points)
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Stay tuned for twelve more such articles as the field shrinks by one game almost every day to see which of the following games will be the 2013 Game of the Year!
Week 2: GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) vs GM Robert Hungaski (MAN) 1-0 Article
Week 5: IM Dmitry Schneider (MAN) vs GM Joel Benjamin (NJ) 0-1 Article
Week 6: IM Marc Esserman (BOS) vs GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) 0-1 Article
Week 7: FM Eric Rodriguez (MIA) vs IM Irina Krush (NY) 1-0 Article
Week 8: GM Conrad Holt (DAL) vs IM Jonathan Schroer (CAR) 1-0 Article
Week 9: GM Giorgi Margvelashvili (DAL) vs GM Ben Finegold (STL) 1/2-1/2 Article
Semifinals: GM Sam Shankland (NE) vs GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #1: GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) vs FM Steven Winer (NE) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #2: IM Vitaly Neimer (STL) vs FM Eric Rodriguez (MIA) 0-1 Article
Wildcard #3: IM Justin Sarkar (CON) vs IM Levon Altounian (ARZ) 0-1 Article
Wildcard #4: GM Zviad Izoria (MAN) vs GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) 1-0 Article
Wildcard #5: GM Alex Stripunsky (NJ) vs GM Melikset Khachiyan (LA) 1-0 Article
Eliminated:
13th Place (56 Points): GM Emil Anka (SEA) vs FM Tom Bartell (PHI) 0-1 Article Elimination Article
14th Place (51 Points): IM Andranik Matikozyan (LA) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 0-1 Article Elimination Article
15th Place (44 Points): GM Conrad Holt (DAL) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 0-1 Article Elimination Article
16th Place (43 Points): GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
17th Place (43 Points): GM Joel Benjamin (NJ) vs GM Pascal Charbonneau (NY) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
18th Place (41 Points): John Michael Burke (NJ) vs NM Ryan Goldenberg (MAN) 0-1 Article Elimination Article
19th Place (40 Points): GM Niclas Huschenbeth (BAL) vs IM Steven Zierk (BOS) 0-1 Article Elimination Article
20th Place (40 Points): GM Tamaz Gelashvili (NY) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 1-0 Article Elimination Article
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