The 8th annual chessgames.com vote for the year's Best Games was held on the tpstar chessforum in January 2012. The contest operated under the standard rules; kibitzers could select up to ten database games in order. Ten points were awarded for a #1 choice, nine points for #2, eight points for #3, and so on down to #10 which earned one point. After all the votes were tallied, this Game Collection will stand as the group's choices for the Best Games of 2011.

Game of the Year honors went to Levon Aronian for his bold endgame sacrifice leading to a rampaging Queen during the Tal Memorial. Boris Gelfand put it all together to win the Candidates Matches and face Anand for the WC title, with two Gelfand wins in the Top Ten. Carlsen had a phenomenal year and scored two brilliant attacking games in the Top Five, while Svidler's World Cup triumph got him on the list. Spectacular attacks by Jun and Kotronias scored well, plus a long King walk by Xue and an exquisite ending by Kramnik.

13 voters nominated 58 games. Votes were spread out over more games this year as most voters prepared a full list of ten.