Brilliancy Prizes

The 2011 Washington State Championship / Premier / Invitational chess tournaments were conducted as round-robins the weekends of February 12-13 and 19-21, 2011 in Seattle.

Return to main page for link to PGN file of the actual games.

The Brilliancy Prizes totaled $300 ($100 for best game in each section).

Championship Section (Judge: Nat Koons)

The winner:

Chen vs. Rohonyan - A nice game by the champ! A strong positional pawn sacrifice to bottle up black’s pieces (16. b5!), followed by energetic play to rip open the center (19. e4! and 24. d5!), capped with some nice clean blows.

The runners up:

Cozianu vs. Greninger (2nd place) - Another nice French from Greninger. White was never able to untangle his queenside; the marooned rook on a3 was especially noticeable. A great passive exchange sac (23…Rg4!) led to a crushing position for black. White’s attempt at the end to maneuver his queen to e5 had a tactical flaw.

Greninger vs. Kelly (3rd place) - Seeing the black king on h8, White very determinedly pried open the h-file (23. Rh1, 25. Ng5, 26. h5). After 27… gxh5 28. Rxh5 he had achieved his goal and the black position seemed precarious. But Kelly had shown fantastic judgment in allowing this, as the g-file was at the same time opened for black, which proved decisive! Bravo!

Peres vs. Rohonyan (4th place) - Nice classical play from Rohonyan, who attacked white’s ambitious but loose pawn structure with a pointed push in the center (16… e5!). The subsequent opening of the pawn exposed the soft underbelly of white’s position (21.. g5!). Black won two pawns and convincingly pressed home her advantage.

Collyer vs. Kelly (5th place) - A single mistake by white (20. Ne3?) allowed Kelly to gain control of the only open file. It was Steinitz who said that he with the advantage is obligated to attack, and in this game – that advice was well heeded!

Greninger vs. Perez (honorable mention) - An epic battle. Despite stubborn resistance from Greninger, Peres seemed to be steadily converting his positional advantage. Even after Peres’s pawn queened (on move 68) the battle raged on, with Rook and Knight battling Bishop, King and advanced pawns in an incredibly sharp position. Both sides played well but apparently both missed wins. The decisive mistake came on the final move.

Perez vs. Collyer (honorable mention) - Creative and sharp play from both players! White castled queenside and pushed g4, Black responded in like fashion, and soon both sides broke through to the opposing king. Facing mate black opted for perpetual check, although it appears there was a win.

Premier Section (Judge: Tian Sang)

The winner:

Airapetian vs. MacGregor in round 5 - Brilliant attack by white in Ruy Lopez. Almost perfect classic maneuver, exactly like what is described in textbook. Computer suggests that black has better defense, but for human, this game is very impressive.

The runners up:

MacGregor vs. Nathan Lee in round 1 (2nd place) - Black showed excellent imagination and energy, launching a series of well-calculated attacks and completely dominating the game.

Golub vs. Megan Lee in round 1 (3rd place) - It is exciting to see how beautifully white destroyed black's defense in a seemingly balanced middle game.

Bartron vs. Pupols in round 5 (4th place) - Convincingly White demonstrated how to accumulate and convert small advantages into a win.

Feng vs. Golub in round 9 (5th place) - It is a famous topic, bishop pair versus knight pair; however, knight pair prevailed, thanks to black's great skills and precision.

Invitational Section

The Winner: (not available)

The runners up: (not available)