Here is our selection of games from the 28th Space Coast Open. The game board provided below this introduction can be used to view all the available games (45 games). To see the available games, click on the down arrow (triangle) in the white box above the board window.
Included in the games we present the 3 games by the Brilliancy Prize winners, selected by Brilliancy Prize Judge IM Javad Maharramzade.
First Prize: $200 to Marvin Gao (Black vs. Rea). Black played a "bad bishop" endgame in the style of the great classic Akiba Rubinstein, using small but beautiful tactic along the way to grow his advantage to decisive, starting with 25... Kg6!, and then insisting that White accepts the Rook sacrifice: 37... Rb3!, 38... Rxc3!
Second Prize: $100 to Sebastian Ceballos (White vs. Sureshkumar). A classical King hunt straight from the romantic chess of the distant past! White sacrificed 3 pieces in the process, and the Black King was driven all the way to the 4th rank. Black resigned one move before checkmate.
Third Prize: $50 to Matthew Kolcz (White vs. Goponenko). This prize is to give tribute to the fighters of the lower sections. White's attack may not have been completely sound (Black did not find the correct capture 20... Nxh5! with advantage, and later missed the critical resource 24... c4!), but Black's defensive task was certainly not easy. The game deserves the prize for the exclusively picturesque final position after 29.Ng5!
Special thanks to IM Maharramzade for once again serving as our Brilliancy Prize Judge. In addition to the prize winners, IM Maharramzade called out the games by Ganta and Slade as deserving honorable mention.
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