Nihal Sarin wins Gazprom Brilliancy Prize

by Johannes Fischer
1/21/2021 – In the past, many tournaments offered brilliancy prizes for particularly beautiful games, but unfortunately this fine custom has gone a little out of fashion. But the FIDE Online Cadet and Youth World Championships 2020 paid respect to this tradition and awarded a brilliancy prize. It was donated by the Russian company Gazprom, and it was won by 16-year old Indian prodigy Nihal Sarin for an impressive game full of sacrifices and unexpected moves. | Photo: Nihal Sarin (ChessBase India)

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

Sac, sac, attack

Nihal Sarin, born on July 13, 2004 is considered one of the world's greatest talents. He became a grandmaster at age 14, and at the same age jumped the mark of 2600 Elo-points. Only two players had ever achieved this at the age of 14: John Burke from the USA and Wei Yi from China.

However, Burke's achievement was partly due to the peculiarities of the Elo-system. In July 2015 the American had a rating of 2258, but after a series of very good results and thanks to a K-factor of 40 he had jumped to a rating of 2603 in August 2015. At the moment Burke has a rating of 2522 and is almost 100 points behind Nihal Sarin, who currently comes to 2620 rating points.

In December 2020, the young Indian celebrated another success. He won the U18 group in the FIDE Online Cadets and Youth World Championships. His game against Francesco Sonis was particularly spectacular and brought Nihal Sarin the Gazprom Brilliancy Prize.

Nine well-known YouTube chess streamers had been asked for their vote, and five of them were particularly impressed by Nihal's stunning sacrificial attack.

Replay the game:

 
New ...
Open...
Share...
Layout...
Flip Board
Settings
MoveNResultEloPlayers
Replay and check the LiveBook here
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 h6 7.Bxf6 Qxf6 8.Bxc4 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.e5 Qd8 11.Ne4 0-0 12.Nxd4 Qc7 13.Nf6+ Kh8 14.Qc2 gxf6 15.Qc1 Qxe5 16.Qxh6+ Kg8 17.f4 Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Qe4 19.Rf3 Qg6 20.Rg3 Qxg3 21.hxg3 Re8 22.Qxf6 Be7 23.Qh6 Bf8 24.Qg5+ Bg7 25.Rd1 Nd7 26.Bb5 f6 27.Qg6 Re7 28.Rd6 a6 29.Bd3 b5 30.Qe4 Ra7 31.Rxe6 Nc5 32.Qh7+ Kf8 33.Rc6 Rac7 34.Rxc7 Rxc7 35.Bf5 Bb7 36.b4 Nd7 37.Be6 Ke7 38.Bxd7 Rxd7 39.Qxg7+ Ke8 40.Qxf6 Rf7 41.Qc3 Re7 42.Qd2 Rd7 43.Qc2 Re7 44.Kg1 Kd7 45.g4 Re4 46.g5 Rc4 47.Qh7+ 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nihal,S2620Sonis,F24831–02020FIDE Online-ch U18 Open 20201.2

On his YouTube channel, Daniel King, one of the judges, took a closer look at this brilliancy.

 

Nihal Sarin is not only a brilliant attacker, he also knows something about the endgame. Which he showed when he was a guest in two of Karsten Müller's Endgame Magic Shows.

Endgame Magic, February 25, 2020: Guests: Nihal Sarin and Srinath Naranyan

You can watch these shows on-demand with a ChessBase account. Don't have an account? You can register a free 90-day account to watch!

Endgame Magic, May 14, 2019: Guest: GM Nihal Sarin


Links


Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.