The Chess Mind

It has been up for a few days, but as they hadn't advertised it on the front page I didn't realize that it had been uploaded. So: for those who would like to see my presentation of the runner-up in the US Chess League's 2007 Game of the Year contest, you may do so for free and on-demand. The program can be accessed here.

Jorge Sammour-Hasbun, for his win in the finals against IM Davorin Kuljasevic. It was the culmination of a great year for him in the U.S. Chess League, and his win pushed the final match into a blitz playoff. Unfortunately for him and his Boston Blitz teammates, the Dallas Destiny went on to win that playoff and the 2007 league crown, but Sammour-Hasbun's fine game netted him a very nice consolation price - a $1000 award.

The second place game was from the previous week of the playoffs and featured Dallas IM Drasko Boskovic's feisty win in a topsy-turvy battle with Miami GM Julio Becerra. This game won the tidy sum of $500. Ironically, this game received two first-place votes, while the GOTY didn't win any; the problem was that Becerra-Boskovic also received two eighth-place votes while no one voted Sammour-Hasbun's victory a place lower than fifth.

Sammour-Hasbun vs. Kuljasevic can be replayed here, Becerra-Boskovic here. The judges reports are here and here, respectively. And stay tuned for my coverage of these games on ChessVideos.tv.

The brilliant game Martinez-Zilberstein only finished third in the 2007 US Chess League Game of the Year voting (thanks primarily to Adamson's 10th place vote), but I think the decision to dock it on account of Martinez's heavy prep was an unfortunate decision at best. (Not wrong, exactly, as we judges were given free reign to vote as we saw fit. Theoretically we could award votes to players based on the length of their last names.) I made the argument for the game as #1 during my ChessVideos show, and now USCL Commissioner Greg Shahade has spoken out in its favor as well. (Note that Arun Sharma, USCL blogger and Vice-Commish or whatever his title is, also picked the game as his #1 choice.*) Here's what he has to say:

I think that awarding a game fewer points because one of the key moves was opening preparation is completely unprecedented in voting for "best game competitions". Also even after this novelty, black isn't totally lost, they can definitely put up a strong fight, and the game went on for 20-30 more moves, which Martinez conducted in a glamorous fashion. Imagine how Kasparov would have felt if he played a brilliant game and the judges discredited it because he found one strong and spectacular move at home and then won 30 moves later. I think if the players were Nakamura - Christiansen, instead of Martinez vs Zilberstein, this game would have won in a landslide.

I agree with Greg, but to be "fair and balanced" (to quote a slogan), the effect of the novelty** is a bit stronger than he claims. The game only went another 14 moves, and the last six were unnecessary. Also, it's highly unlikely that Martinez's preparation ended with 22.Bh6; that would be insane. It's reasonably likely that it continued to at least 28.Ng5+ as well, so Martinez might have made every meaningful move in his home prep. (If someone in the know can say exactly when his prep ended, that might be helpful.) I still think it deserved first place, but the amount of prep shouldn't be underestimated.

* Note that I'm happy to use Sharma as a supporting witness on those rare occasions when he agrees with me.

** Actually, it was Zilberstein who made the novelty on move 18, (dis)improving on a game they played the month before, but as everyone is referring to Martinez's 22nd move as the novelty I'll maintain that practice.

Thanks to a goof-up on my part, the video for the 3rd place game in the US Chess League's 2007 Game of the Year contest is in the wrong location (at least for now). Here's the link.

[Reminder: This was probably the best game of the year, not only in my opinion but in that of two IMs I've spoken with, and in USCL blogger Arun Sharma's, too. So it's definitely worth your time to check it out!]

Marcel Martinez's fantastic win over Dmitry Zilberstein. This was my choice for first place, but some of the judges - at least one of them - really punished it for its largely being home prep. We (I'm one of the judges in the contest) were given freedom to evaluate the games as we saw fit, so while I can't really complain about Adamson's decision, I can certainly lament it! You can read the judges' report here, replay the game here, and see my coverage of it on ChessVideos.tv by the end of the week.

In the countdown to the US Chess League's 2007 game of the year, we've reached the second of our prize-winning games, the 4th place contest between Larry Christiansen and Patrick Wolff. The former won a very nice attacking game, which I've covered on my ChessVideos show for this week. It's free and available on demand; just go here and start it up.

Coming in fourth place in the U.S. Chess League's countdown to the 2007 Game of the Year is Larry Christiansen-Patrick Wolff, a fine attacking win by Christiansen in a Classical Sicilian. The judges' report is here, and in a few days my analysis of the game will be posted on the ChessVideos.tv site.

As mentioned here, the 5th place game in the USCL 2007 Game of the Year Contest was Bhat-Nakamura, and it was quite the battle from start to finish. See for yourself here, as I cover the game for ChessVideos.tv - it's free and available on-demand.

The countdown to the US Chess League's 2007 game of the year continues, and this week the first prize-winning game (not to be confused with the game winning first place) has been selected (and eliminated). In fifth place, we have Vinay Bhat's fighting win over Hikaru Nakamura, a dramatic game that saw the underdog (that would be Bhat, just in case there are some very casual fans reading this) fight for the win even when down a pawn and behind by a ridiculous 71 minutes to 1 minute margin on the clock. (There were increments, but still.)

Here's the game, while you can read the judges' comments here. My ChessVideos show on the game will show up sometime later this week.

My coverage of the USCL countdown continues here; next week, coverage begins of the money games.

This unfortunate spot goes to the Perelshteyn-Charbonneau game; unfortunate because the top 5 games win cash awards and the rest don't. You can read the judges' report here, and check out the comments that might arise the next few days criticizing one judge in particular. (I was by far the harshest critic of the game, finding it neither especially accurate or entertaining - it struck me as one of those "you had to be there" events.)

I'll present this game, along with the 7th place battle between Becerra and Stripunsky (a much better game, in my opinion), in a few days on ChessVideos.tv.

The judges' report is here and the game itself here. Stay tuned next week, when I'll present this game along with the 6th place finisher on ChessVideos.tv.

The identity of the 9th and 8th place finishers in the U.S. Chess League 2007 Game of the Year contest have already been revealed, but those games secrets haven't been, at least not until now. I've analyzed them in a combined presentation for ChessVideos.tv, and now we can say that their secrets...still haven't been fully revealed. Still, the video should help, and as the games are instructive and entertaining, it's worth your while to have a look. Enjoy!

Milman-Burnett. This was one of my favorite games in the contest, and one I'll enjoy covering in this week's ChessVideos show. (I'll also cover the 9th place game, Friedel-Serper, a game I enjoyed far less.) This one definitely makes a pleasing aesthetic impression, one reminiscent of some of Tigran V. Petrosian's games. (Even more importantly, I've solidified my lead in the informal "Best Judge" contest, which qualifies me to win absolutely nothing.) Do have a look at that game, and tune in later in the week for the show.

Twelve down, eight to go.

The latest game to get eliminated in the U.S. Chess League's Game of the Year contest for 2007 is Josh Friedel's week 9 win over Gregory Serper, a funny game where Serper kept pushing the pawns in front of his king until he got mated. I'll cover this game in some detail on my ChessVideos show next week, together with the 8th place game, but for now you can read the judges' comments and replay the game here.

Let me add in passing that I'm apparently leading an informal judges contest, where the goal (unknown to the judges beforehand) is to have one's picks as close to the actual results as possible. This "contest" strikes me as entirely pointless at best, if only because USCL commish Greg Shahade instructed us to judge the games according to whatever criteria we wanted, making things such that there is no "right" placement for any of the games. So I'm pointing this out only because the contest's inventor, USCL blogger Arun Sharma, seems to be slightly annoyed that he's not in the lead. (Here's the link with the judges' standings after GOTY #10; my lead has increased because I picked Friedel-Serper for 9th place, while Sharma - already six points back - did not.)

(In fairness to Sharma, who isn't an official judge and whose guesses don't count, the contest is unfair to him, unless his calculations take the following reasoning into account. The point is that my guesses "skew" the results in my favor while his don't. Suppose everyone but me and Sharma vote a game for 10th place, while I put it in 5th and he puts it in 15th. To evaluate which of us is closer to the norm, either both our votes should count or neither should. Either way, the game would end up with an average rating of 10th place and we'd be equally wrong. With my vote counting but not his, however, I'm closer, as the average with my vote only is a 9th place rating - I'm two places closer.)

After a couple of weeks off from reviewing USCL's 2007 Games of the Year, my latest show on ChessVideos.tv takes a compressed look at the last three games to be eliminated. The show is free and available on-demand, right here.

We continue to mark the U.S. Chess League's countdown to the best game of their 2007 season, and this week we take our first look at the top 10. That entrant is the battle between Philadelphia IM Bryan Smith and Boston GM Eugene Perelshteyn, a Breyer Ruy where the ostensibly weaker player started off by outplaying his grandmaster opponent and finished things up with a sac and a mop-up operation. (In fact things weren't quite so simple, as I'll detail this week in a forthcoming ChessVideos program, but it'll do as an initial approximation.) You can read more about this game and replay it for yourselves, right here.

The US Chess League's countdown to the 2007 game of the year continues, with a new game eliminated each week on the way to #1. This week we're down to #11, and the game chosen was Molner-Kaufman. It was a lively French Defense with big momentum swings: first White was winning, then Black had the advantage, and then White won. It wasn't perfect, but it was very entertaining.

You can replay the game and see the judges' comments about it here.

The US Chess League's countdown to the 2007 game of the year continues, with a new game eliminated each week on the way to #1. This week we're down to #12, and the game chosen was Zilberstein-Bartholomew. As with many of the games we've seen so far, there's somewhat of a two-step flow to it: the winner undertakes the project of slowly building up the attack, and when the preconditions are in place the tactics start to fly. It's worth a look, and you can replay the game here, and see the judges' comments here.

The United States Chess League is doing a countdown of the 20 best games of the 2007 season, and this week we're down to #13: Molner-Arnold. The game was a characteristically sharp Najdorf Sicilian with 6.Bg5, and saw Molner devise not one but three major sacrifices for long-term compensation. It was a very interesting game, in my opinion, and you can watch my video presentation here.