The Most Brilliant Moves Ever Played In The Computer Chess Championship

How many brilliant moves have been played in a single game in the Computer Chess Championship? According to Game Review, the answer is 18(!!) brilliant moves.

This sacrificial duel was played by Stoofvlees and Halogen in a Richter-Rauzer, Sicilian Defense. Stoofvlees takes on the role of the bloodthirsty attacker, repeatedly offering a "fishing-line sacrifice" before playing an audacious exchange sacrifice with Rh3-g3xg4!?

Though Stoofvlees play is brilliant and instructive, it often takes more than that to win a computer chess game, and Halogen also plays brilliantly in defense, hiding the king behind an "umbrella pawn".

I won't spoil the conclusion, but it has it's own delightful little twist.

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You might be wondering how YOU could earn double-digit brilliant moves in a game. In general, the key is to repeatedly offer a sacrifice that your opponent just cannot accept. One example is the all-time classic Shredder vs. Gull where Shredder repeatedly offers a rook sacrifice that leads to stalemate - possibly the greatest stalemate combination ever played and one stacked with brilliant moves. Had Gull continued to decline the rook sacrifice, Shredder could have offered it many more times.

Another example is unacceptable positional sacrifices. For instance, consider this example from Hikaru Nakamura's play where he earned brilliant move after brilliant move (the most he's ever gotten in a single game from Game Review - though see also his brilliancy against Hans Niemann) by leaving the rook hanging on c6. Black is never in a position to benefit by capturing the rook and giving Hikaru crushing passed pawns.

Of course, it's true that quantity is not more important than quality, and racking up brilliant moves by repeating the same idea isn't as compelling an achievement as a singular spectacular and unique idea (like Rxg4!! in this game which I personally consider more impressive than the other 17 brilliant moves combined), but it's always interesting to see records and how they are established.