We are pleased to announce that Venkat Karthikeya Reddy Kola is the winner of the Michael Schleifer Brilliancy Prize from the 2024 Ontario Open.

We extend our gratitude to the Schleifer Family, who generously sponsored a $500 brilliancy prize in honour of the late Michael Schleifer, one of Canada’s top juniors in the 90s and Canada’s first Black International Master. We would like to invite you to learn more about IM Michael Schleifer here and here.

Our judging panel consisted of WGM Anna Burtasova, FM Michael Humphreys, and Carl Schleifer. Each judge reviewed the submissions from the players and shortlisted five games. In addition to the winning game, we will also be publishing three games that were each of the judge’s top pick as honourable mentions. Surprisingly, none of these games are from the Crown section; all are from the U2200 section!

Venkat Karthikeya Reddy Kola (1964) – NM David Southam (2071)

Congratulations to Venkat Karthikeya Reddy Kola for winning the Brilliancy prize with a fine game. I liked this game by white because he appears to have a clear plan for his pieces right from early in the opening. He purposefully trades his dark-squared bishop for black’s king knight on move 8 and then finds good homes for his own two knights. He seizes the only open file on move 29 and then makes effective use of it in a winning combo that starts on move 32. Bravo!

Carl Schleifer

The winner of the Ontario Open Michael Schleifer Brilliancy Prize goes to Venkat Karthikeya Reddy Kola for winning a model game in the Stonewall Dutch. Although only nine years old, Venkat showed a remarkable level of maturity during each phase of the game. White’s play in the opening seemed based on an old game between Tony Miles against Bent Larsen from 1983 where the early exchange of dark-squared-bishop for knight on f6 deprived black of the typical plans in the Stonewall. White’s minority attack on the Q-side by contrast, unfolded like clockwork and by the time that black was finally able to initiate any action on the K-side, it only resulted in the creation of a second front. White used this second front to invade black’s position and win the game with an elegant tactical strike.

FM Michael Humphreys

Brendan Tan (2061) — Noah Velasquez (1943)

Honorable mention also goes to Brendan Tan. I liked White’s aggressive and somewhat reckless opening play in this game. He was rewarded with a nice middle game initiative where solid energetic and careful play secured the win. A very nice game.

Carl Schleifer

Jaipreet Singh Dhaliwal (2067) — Ethan Yichen Li (1836)

Brilliance in chess does not necessarily lie in a greatly conducted attack; often, the hidden gems are found in the endgames. The way Black conducted an endgame in this one was a pleasure to watch. Great technique made a difference in a seemingly harmless position, and the way Black played and slowly gained more and more advantage, following the golden endgame rule of “don’t rush,” puts this game above all smashing attacks for me. 

WGM Anna Burtasova

1. a3!?
Anderssen’s opening is quite an interesting practical choice. White is hoping to reach some type of development scheme more commonly played with the black pieces, but with an extra tempo. The number of openings where a7-a6 is a useful move for Black is quite large; the most common points of comparison starting after 1. a3 would be with the Chebanenko Slav (1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6) and the Kan Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6). White is therefore quite likely to reach a position where the move a2-a3 is in principle useful for them. Black’s task therefore should be to aim for the reverse openings where the value of each tempo is comparatively low. In the game, Black does quite a good job of this.

1…d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4
3…d4 would transpose to a line advocated for white by the famous Mihai Suba. Suba’s move order would usually be: 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 3. a3!? The point of 3. a3 in this case would be that after 3…c5 4. e3 Nc6 5. exd4 cxd4 6. d3 white obtains a Modern Benoni position with reverse colours in which the move a2-a3 will be useful. The Modern Benoni is quite a sharp opening, so playing a tempo down wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste if they’re playing with black. Another benefit of Suba’s move order would be that 3…Nc6, which would be highly effective after 3.g3 or 3.e3, could be met with 4. b4! with complications that are potentially in White’s favour.

The move order chosen in the game would commit black to 3…Nf6, which is quite a challenging move. Suba himself once played 4. e3 in this position, again attempting to reach Modern Benoni positions. My personal preference would be 4. b4 with a very complicated Blumenfeld-type position. The move chosen in the game is less ambitious, but perhaps more practical. It will be much harder for White to justify the move a2-a3 in QGA-type positions.

4. Qa4+ Nbd7 5. Qxc4 e6 6. g3 a6 7. Bg2 c5 8. O-O b5
This type of position is normally reached via the Reti move order with 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 e6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Nbd7 6. Qxc4 a6 7. O-O (7. Qb3!) 7…b5 8. Qc2 c5. In these setups, White hardly ever includes the move a2-a3. We can therefore conclude that the opening in the game has been a complete success for Black and the evaluation should be considered somewhere between equal and Black having a small advantage.

9. Qc2 Bb7 10. d3 Bd6 11. b3 O-O 12. Bb2 Qe7 13. Nbd2 Rfc8 14. e4
This is quite an aggressive move. It was perhaps safer for white to stick to some type of hedgehog formation with 14. Rac1 or 14. Rfe1

14…e5 15. Nh4 Qe8?!
This is the first real inaccuracy of the game. Black wishes to react to Nh4-f5 with Bd6-f8, but it would be much better for black to prevent this outright with g7-g6.

Let’s take a deeper look: 15…g6 (D)

It may seem like this move weakens black’s K-side pawn structure, but it is not so easy for white to carry out the f2-f4 push. The following variations may be of particular interest to KID players who often face a similar question of how to carry out the equivalent f7-f5 push in that opening.

A) The immediate 16. f4? Would be punished by 16…Ng4! 17. Rae1 c4! (D)

and black will begin a powerful attack on white’s weakened dark squares.

B) White could prepare f2-f4 with the preliminary move 16. h3, but this could be met by the regrouping 16…Nb8! intending Nb8-c6 and later Nc6-d4. If White continues 17. f4, Black can expose the downsides of h2-h3 with 17…Nh5! and White’s kingside structure falls apart.

C) The best move for white is 16. Bh3!

This excellent move prevents both Nf6-g4 as well as the regrouping Nd7-b8-c6-d4. Play might continue 16…Rc7 17. Ng2 Nb8 18. Rae1 Nc6 19. f4 Nd4 20. Qd1, with White’s attacking chances on the kingside offering White enough play to keep the game roughly balanced — again, the position should be evaluated somewhere between being equal and Black having a small advantage.

Returning to the game: 16. Nf5 Bf8 17. Rae1!
White is improving the position of all the pieces before changing the structure with f2-f4.

17…Rd8 18. f4 Rac8 19. Nf3
Although this move increases the pressure on the e5-pawn and forces a reaction from black, the knight still serves a function on d2 in preventing black from gaining counterplay with c5-c4. It would therefore be preferable to start 19. Kh1 when white would maintain a somewhat more promising position.

19…exf4? This is a serious error which allows white to create a very strong attack. It was essential for black to respond with 19…c4! (D)

The complications here will be immense, but it seems that Black will maintain adequate chances. Here is an engine-generated variation. It is by no means forced, but should demonstrate the level of complexity of this position: 20. dxc4 bxc4 21. fxe5 cxb3 22. Qb1! Ng4 23. Nd6! Qe6! 24. Nd4!? Qh6 25. h3 Ndxe5 26. Nxb7 Rd7 27. Na5 Ne3 White is temporarily up a piece, but is poorly coordinated and will have to give back at least an exchange to keep the game equal.

Returning to the position after 19…exf4, here comes the sequence of moves which I believe make this game a worthy candidate for the brilliancy prize:

20. e5! Nd5 21. Ng5! h6 (D)
This is the critical moment of the game.

22. e6!!
White opens the position regardless of the cost in material.

22…hxg5 23. e7! N7f6?
Now Black is definitely losing. Relatively best would have been 23…Nxe7 though it is unlikely that Black will survive after 24. Bxb7! (more convincing than 24. Nd6- which might also win) 24…Nb6 25. Bxg7!! Qd7 26. Nxe7+ Bxe7 27. Bxc8 Rxc8 28. Bb2 and White should win.

24. exf8=Q+ Qxf8 25. Bxf6 gxf6 26. Qb2 fxg3
Black would also be losing after 26…Rd7 27. Bxd5 Bxd5 28. Qxf6 Rc6 thanks to the tactical trick 29. Nh6+! Kh7 30. Qf5+! Kxh6 31. Qxd7.

27. Bxd5 gxh2+ 28. Kxh2 Bxd5 29. Qxf6 Kh7 30. Kg3!
A nice way to finish the game. Black resigned as they are helpless against the threat of Rf1-h1 leading to mate.