The Fritz 18 Brilliancy Winners

The first prize goes to:

Dominique C.

After only 14 moves the board is on fire with a brilliant queen sacrifice. Fritz 18 is visibly impressed by the ensuing combination and comments: "hot move!".

In the endgame we then see Dominique's two rooks, two bishops and five pawns fighting against queen, rook, knight and four pawns, where Fritz 18 then finally gives up.

And this is his brilliancy against Fritz 18

Dominique won the private training with Rustam Kasimdzhanov! The Uzbek Grandmaster's Fritztrainer fits Dominique's choice of opening quite well.

The second prize goes to:

The Benoni is back in business

On top level the Benoni is a rare guest but with this DVD Rustam Kasimdzhanov this might change. New ways and approaches in most lines and countless improvements of official theory will show you how to play this opening at any level with success.

Thomas F.
Benjamin A.
Valerian G.
German S.
Gerald L.
Egbert S.
Andreas K.
Jorgen H.
Michael H.
Christian B.

Thomas F. won his brilliant game in 1996 against an opponent almost 400 rating points stronger after only 21 moves.

Thomas chose the Portuguese Variation in the Scandinavian. After a really nice textbook bishop sacrifice, White had to resign only eight moves later, as another sacrificial combination with the rook was simply too much.

And this was the brialliancy by Thomas F.

So, all ten players won a blitz tournament on our Playchess server with a surprise GM. Arne Kaehler will host the tournament as usual!

The third prize goes to:

Catharinus M.
Stan Y.
Federico V.
Andreas H.
Paul G.
Fernando M.
Christian W.
Daniel H.
Hay P.
Axel H.
Naushad R.

Catharinus' brilliancy was played in the Netherlands in 2020.

The opening is as hot as five flames, but was thoroughly studied by Catharinus the day before with the Megadatabase until move 10. It works, and White gets a sharp attack.

The nineteenth move Rb5 fulfils several functions, among others taking squares away from the opponent's queen, which also succeeded, because it was gone one move later. Shortly afterwards, Black gave up.

The brilliancy by Catharinus M.

All third prize winners can look forward to a voucher worth 50 euros!

The fourth prize goes to:

Tykhon C.
Carlos M.
Sahil T.
Jan Michael H.
Dennis M.
Valer D.
John H.
Matti P.
Yandy B.
Paul B.

Eleven-year-old Tykhon seemed to have had an easy time with the Grandmaster level of Fritz 18, and you can watch his games against the engine on his YouTube channel.

On move number 25, the Ukrainian CM takes a lot of time and finds the right development to a rook ending, but with three more pawns on his side.

Without "hints" he has dismantled poor Fritz 18.