I am not sure how the brilliancy would hold up under the scrutiny of Stockfish, but does it really matter? I read that back in 1925 some Russian professor named A. Smirnov wrote that the importance of the underlying soundness of the game (was by then) deemed essential and flawed play, imaginative though it might be, no longer (passed) muster.
Reti wrote that tactics represented the triumph of mind over matter. The combination, the sacrifice, the unexpected move imbue
the wooden pieces with sparkle, almost make them come to life.
Emanuel Lasker once wrote in an annotation that one Bishop smiled while the other Bishop laughed. Reuben Fine added that unless there was a tactical sequence, it was silly to invoke such human attributes.
Because the sacrifice is prized so highly, it used to be customary to offer special awards for them. Like postal play, engines have pretty much thrown cold water on them.
What are the requirements for the brilliancy prize in this day of Stockfish and Dragon by Komodo? A brilliant game still has to contain a sacrifice, preferably one that's not obvious, and it should be pleasing to the eye. The catch is that it has to be sound as shown by an engine. In spite of all that, tactics by players like Nezhmetdinov, Spielmann, Alekhine, Keres, Tal and others are still fun to play over, sound or not.
Weaver Adams, playing his usual spectacular chess, won the brilliancy prize at Ventnor City in 1943, but more about that anon.
Anthony Santasiere and George Shainswit, then serving in the Army Medical Corps, shared first at the fifth annual Ventnor City Invitational Tournament held on the Municipal Pier of the New Jersey resort from July 5th to 11th. New England Champ Weaver Adams finished a close third.
As mentioned in the previous post, Santasiere, at the time the Marshall Chess Club Champion, was a staunch advocate of brilliant, sacrificial play in word if not in deed. In his tournament he achieved success by avoiding losses rather than by winning games; he scored wins from Shainswit and Adams and drew the rest. Shainswit's loss to Santasiere cost him first place. At the time Shainswit had a reputation as a technician and being a drawing master, but in this tournament he surprised everybody by playing forceful chess,
Although his home was in Massachusetts, at the time Weaver Adams was living in New York doing engineering work at a war plant. He made history in this Ventnor tournament when he abandoned his beloved Bishop Opening which he had been playing for years and switched to the Vienna Game which he now claimed to win by force.
Adams was a somewhat odd fellow. No matter what was happening on the board, he always appeared calm and unperturbed and if his position became difficult he would just lean back in his chair with nonchalance.
Often, while seated at the board he seldom looked at or even seemed aware of his opponent and frequently turned his chair at a right angle to it and when not gazing at the board, he stared out of the window for a long time. On occasion this unnerved opponents who sometimes complained to the TD about it.
Adams played his own way, using his own published analysis, often to his detriment. When he finished next to last at Hastings in 1950 it was in no small part to his having armed his opponents with advance knowledge of his best lines.
Because of his dogmatism and his style, Adams was just as likely to be on the winning or losing end of a brilliancy prize game. At this Ventnor tournament he won the brilliancy prize for his win over Walter Suesman, but he also was on the receiving end of the best played game award which went to Martin Stark for his sparkling win over Adams!
Weaver Adams - Walter Suesman
Result: 1-0
Site: Ventnor City
Date: 1943.07.05
Caro-Kann
[...] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 dxe4 At this point this exchange is pretty much compulsory if black is to avoid any disadvantage. The only other feasible try is the rarely seen 3...g6
3...g6 4.♘f3 ♗g7 5.h3 Here black has tried 5...Nh6, 5...Nf6 and 5...dxe4, but white seems to do well against all of them.
4.♘xe4 ♗f5 Fine thought this move is too passive and that black should play 4...Nf6. These days theory prefers the text move. Another reasonable try is 4...Nbd7 5.♘g3 ♗g6 6.h4 Almost automatic. The purpose of this move is to weaken the position of black's K-side by forcing 6...h6 6...h6 7.♘f3 ♘d7 8.h5 White may omit this move if he wishes, 8...♗h7 9.♗d3 ♗xd3 10.♕xd3 e6 11.♗f4 More usual is 11 B-Q2. White .Q-B2, but is Wants compelled to prevent transpose back to the normal line next move. White 11...♕a5+ 12.♗d2 ♕c7 13.O-O-O ♘gf6 14.c4 O-O-O 15.♗c3 Up to this point the game has For followed accepted book lines Black, whose position is cramped, the problem is one of suitable exchanges in order to liberate him self:for White, the idea is to keep things complicated. If possible, he will try to occupy e5 with a N. 15...♘g4 Reuben Fine correctly stated that this sortie does irreparable harm to black's position because it attacks before his development is complete. He recommended 15...c5 to get rid of white's d-Pawn.
15...♗e7 16.♕e2 ♖he8 17.♘e5 ♘xe5 18.dxe5 ♘d7 white is slightly better. Carballo,F-Fenoglio,V/ Argentina 1938
15...♕b6 might be worth a try. 16.♕e2 ♗b4 17.♗xb4 ♕xb4 18.a3 Gomez Esteban,J (2478)-Burmakin,V (2627)/Benasque 2009. White is slightly better, but white was unable to demonstrate a win.
15...c5 16.♔b1 cxd4 17.♘xd4 with a slight advantage as black's position remains cramped.
16.♕e2 ♗d6 17.♘e4 ♗f4+ 18.♔b1 f5 With a cramped position and little prospects of an attack, black makes a desperate effort to free himself. Adams energetically refutes black's play. 19.♘ed2
19.♘h4 was also good. 19...♖he8 (19...fxe4 20.♕xg4 ♘f6 21.♕xe6+ with a clear advantage.) 20.g3 ♗d6 21.♘xd6+ ♕xd6 22.♘g6 and white is considerably better.
19...e5 Opening up the position can only be in white's favor. Best was hunkering down with 19... Rhe8 20.dxe5 ♘gxe5 21.♘d4 Also acceptable was 21.g3 21...♖he8 22.♘2b3 ♘b6 23.c5
23.♘c5 also packed a punch. 23...♘exc4 24.♘ce6 Interesting. Black's Q, R and B are forked, but white's N is pinned. Here's how Stockfish worked things out. 24...♕d6 25.♕f3 ♘d5 26.♘xd8 ♖xd8 27.♘b3 White has A r vs a N+P, but more than that, a winning position. 27...♕e6 28.♗xg7 ♕f7 29.♗c3 ♗g5 30.♖he1 All this is probably a bit difficult for a human to work out especially OTB.
23...♘d5 24.♗a5 This great move is the introduction to the conclusion.
24.♘xf5 This prosaic alternative is less clear. 24...♘xc3+ 25.bxc3 ♘d7 26.♕c2 ♗e5
24...b6 25.♘xf5 A pretty move. 25...bxa5 In the auto-annotation in Fritz 12, Stockfiah slapped two question marks on this because 25...Kb8 was evaluated at about a P better.
25...♔b8 26.♘d6 ♖e7 27.♘f5 ♖ee8 28.g3 ♘d7 29.♕a6 ♗e5 30.f4 ♗f6 31.cxb6 axb6 32.♖xd5 cxd5 33.♖c1 ♕b7 34.♕xb7+ ♔xb7 35.♘d6+ and wins.
26.♘d6+ In any case white still wins in pretty fashion. 26...♖xd6
26...♔d7 is no escape. 27.♕e4 ♖e6 28.♖xd5 cxd5 29.♕xf4 Mo matter what black tries his K is fatally exposed. 29...♖xd6 30.cxd6 ♕xd6 31.♖c1 ♖f8 32.♕e3 d4 33.♘xd4 ♕d5 34.♖e1 wins.
27.cxd6 ♕xd6 28.g3 ♕c7 Hoping to get a N planted in the center in exchange for his Ps, but he is sadly disappointed, 29.♖xd5 After this Suesman resigned. (29.♖xd5 cxd5 30.gxf4 and it's obvious black's position is hopeless.) Powered by Aquarium
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