IM Korley (CAR) vs GM Becerra (MIA) 0-1 takes 20th Place in the Game of the Year Contest

One of the wildcards ends up being the first game on the chopping block as while the judges seemed to appreciate the fighting nature of the game, the overall quality wasn’t enough to give it higher rankings.

This is the first part in a series of articles which will count down to revealing what game was voted as the 2014 USCL Game of the Year. The entrants are the fourteen Games of the Week along with the six Wildcards (full list). There are five 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 five judges are:

GM Alejandro Ramirez
IM Priyadharshan Kannappan
FM Ingvar Johannesson
FM Alisa Melekhina
FM Ron Young

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20th Place: IM Kassa Korley (CAR) vs GM Julio Becerra (MIA) 0-1

In an interesting encounter, IM Korley went for a second exchange sacrifice with 48. Rxd6!, but after concerted effort USCL star GM Becerra eventually scored the full point

FM Alisa Melekhina (12th Place, 9 Points): Korley tried an offbeat set-up against the KID and committed to d5 too soon. Becerra put a unique spin on the typical f5 breakthrough by preparing it with the insidious Bb7 and Qa8 battery. Although he came away with an edge, Korley proved that White also has tactical shots in KID set-ups.

It was a valiant fight by both sides. Not the highest quality game, but at least the players were out of theory early and were simply playing according to what the position demanded. Becerra certainly had to sweat a little to earn the point.

IM Priyadharshan Kannappan (16th Place, 5 Points): When Black played 11… Bh6, I would have happily swapped the Bishops with Nc4 as I feel Black’s Kingside is weak without the dark squared Bishop. There was a major flaw in White plan’s in the middlegame though as he was too fixated on the d5 square and wasted many moves just to land one of his Knights on the d5 square but wasn’t able to achieve anything out of it. This game was thrilling, but it was thanks to the mistakes near the end, which were most likely due to time trouble.

GM Alejandro Ramirez (19th Place, 2 Points): Why is this here?

FM Ron Young (19th Place, 2 Points): In such a long game featuring such offbeat positions, some mistakes are inevitable, and much more striking were the way White carried on and fought back after such a grovely stretch right out of the opening, even dealing with threats to his King’s person. Had he saved the half point, as it seems he could have done by going after Black’s Pawns at the end, I’d have ranked it higher but as it was, it seemed that this game, like Joe Paterno and Bill Cosby, lasted too long for its own good.

FM Ingvar Johannesson (20th Place, 1 Point): White plays rather unambitiously in the opening, and Black doesn’t seem to have any problems equalizing. White was probably already worse, but 17. c4 seemed to grant rather easy dark square play for his opponent. Becerra perhaps could have been more clinical in his finishing but managed the win in the end.

Total Score of Korley vs Becerra: (20th Place, 19 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 2014 Game of the Year!

Week 1: GM Anton Kovalyov (RIO) vs GM Daniel Naroditsky (SF) 1-0 Article

Week 2: GM Varuzhan Akobian (STL) vs GM Renier Gonzalez (MIA) 1-0 Article

Week 3: GM Mackenzie Molner (ARZ) vs GM Eugene Perelshteyn (BOS) 1-0 Article

Week 4: GM Wesley So (STL) vs GM Alex Lenderman (CON) 1/2-1/2 Article

Week 5: GM Alex Lenderman (CON) vs GM Gata Kamsky (NY) 1-0 Article

Week 6: GM Niclas Huschenbeth (BAL) vs GM Wesley So (STL) 1/2-1/2 Article

Week 7: GM Joel Benjamin (NJ) vs GM Holden Hernandez (RIO) 1-0 Article

Week 8: GM Daniel Naroditsky (SF) vs GM Conrad Holt (DAL) 1/2-1/2 Article

Week 9: GM Julio Becerra (MIA) vs GM Julio Sadorra (DAL) 1-0 Article

Week 10: IM David Vigorito (NE) vs FM Andrew Shvartsman (MAN) 1/2-1/2 Article

Wildcard Round: IM Georgi Orlov (SEA) vs GM Alex Stripunsky (NJ) 1-0 Article

Quarterfinals: GM Daniel Naroditsky (SF) vs GM Conrad Holt (DAL) 1-0 Article