Magical Save!

Magical Save

Ever since chess.com has changed the way brilliant moves are determined, I haven't been able to play a single brilliant move. However, recently, I was able to play a brilliant move that would completely change my position from utterly losing to a draw. 

The Game

Opening

In this game, I was playing the black pieces against a 1600 from the United States. He would open with e4, and I would play the Sicilian Defense. White played the Alapin Sicilian by playing c3, preparing d4, and taking dominant control of the center.  I responded with Nf6, attacking the pawn. White pushes the pawn with e5, and I move the knight to d5. d4 is critical to take control of the center, and cxd4 is played.

Then, I played e6, creating a knight outpost and preventing any sort of forwarding pawn push by white. White decided to play a3, protecting the b4 square, but I think this is a bit slow and allows me to slowly build up with d6, preparing more space for my queenside to develop. In the Alapin, white usually needs to develop their pieces quickly and castle for active play to compensate for the slow c3.

Both of us then developed our knights, but white would develop his knight to c3, allowing me to capture it and isolate white's a-pawn. I would play d5, locking the middle of the board, but dxe5 would have been more effective by also isolating the c-pawn.

Middle Game

After the center was locked, we would both continue development and castle short. However, when white played Qc2, a powerful diagonal attack was in place on my kingside, with both bishops pointing at the king, and white's knight always on standby. There is also the possibility that a bishop sacrifice could take place to leave my king vulnerable. Thus, I began to try and route my pieces to the kingside. 

I played f6, a pawn break to get my bishop on a more active square and decenter white's pawn structure. White would then place their dark square bishop behind pawns, temporarily limiting its power, but the purpose is to protect the d pawn after pushing the c pawn. In the meantime, I would push my a pawn, trying to take control of the b3 square, so that I could potentially get a knight outpost. However, this is a bit slow and allows white the initiative. 

White would break with c4, and I would develop my queen and bishop. However, white would attack my queen with Rb1 and I played Qa7, trying to keep pressure on the d4 square. However, after I played Nxd4, thinking, I had taken control of the center, white played Bh7+. This forces my king to h8. The result...

I would lose a rook, and the queen would infiltrate, threatening to give my king a check and take my other rook. At this point, the position is evaluated as +7.8.

Then, white would play Rxb7. This would make Qh8 a checkmate. I sat for a good two minutes at this position, thinking that it was over. But then, I found a brilliant idea. Can you find it?

The Brilliant Move

Have you found it?

Don't look here until you've found it!

Be6 is a brilliant move because it prevents checkmate by protecting the g8 square, and Rxe6 is not possible because Qd1+ and back rank mate after Re1 and Qxe1#.

h3 is played to prevent back rank mate, and I play Qd2, taking control of the c1-h6 diagonal. So after Rxe6, I was able to give perpetual checks and after repetition, we get a draw. 

What are your thoughts on this game? What do you think about the new brilliant move system? What are some of your best brilliant moves? Let me know!