Here is our selection of games from the 25th Space Coast Open. Six games are presented. To see the available games, click on the down arrow (triangle) in the white box above the board window.
The first 3 games are the Brilliancy Prize winners, selected by Brilliancy Prize Judge IM Javad Maharramzade.
First Prize: $200 to Carlos Andretta
Second Prize: $100 to Andy Catlin. Due to work commitments, Andy Catlin was only able to play 2 rounds, scoring 1.5 points against a high expert (win) and a strong master (draw). Along with two half-point byes, this resulted in a score of 2.5, which would have been good for a tie for the third expert prize if Andy had wanted to request a zero point bye in the last round, rather then withdrawing. But his play did not go unnoticed by our dedicated Brilliancy Prize judge, IM Javad Maharramzade, who selected this game for the second Brilliancy Prize.
Third Prize: $50 to Xavier Alvarez
Next we have the decisive game by the tournament winner, Icelandic GM Hedinn Steingrimsson. With the Black pieces he convincingly topples top ranked GM Alexey Dreev to take sole possession of first place. The game receives an honorable mention for the Brilliancy Prize. IM Maharramzade said, "A very clean game by the tournament's eventual champion. To take down a player of Dreev's caliber with Black in the last round without committing any inaccuracies is certainly not an ordinary accomplishment. Dreev was not at his best in this game, not achieving anything in the opening and allowing a typical position with an isolated pawn in the center. Quickly Black was able to shatter White's pawn structure on the king-side, and Dreev's two bishops did not prove to be a sufficient compensation for that. A critical improvement to the Black's position was 34... Nh5!, freeing the other Knight from the necessity to support the Bishop on f4. White's position collapsed soon afterwards."
Then we have a fighting draw between two of the Grandmasters who tied for second place. This game was also played in the last round, and a win by either player would have given them a share of first place and a much larger prize. This was not meant to be, and after some fireworks, the game was drawn while the key matchup on board 1 was still underway.
And for our final game we have a wild attacking game where Vlad Yanovsky was on the verge of defeating IM Yunier Leyva Rivera, but in the end, the IM triumphed, enabling him to join a 3-way tie for second place.
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