Ryan Clayton 5/14/25 Ryan Clayton 5/14/25

Advanced League Brilliancy Prize 2025 Spring

The 2025 Spring season of the Great Lakes Chess League has come to an end. Out of the many games played between the best K-8 players from around Northwest Ohio , one game clearly stood out.

Nodirbek on his way to win his game in the Championship match

This game, which was won by Nodirbek Aminov with the black pieces, illustrates Nodirbek’s desire to win along with his tactical vision and careful endgame technique. Nodirbek played very aggressively by avoiding trades. Then, he started to pressure white’s position which resulted in a brilliant combination to secure an endgame advantage. Below is the game along with my analysis.

Congratulations to Nodirbek for creating and then spotting his opportunity from an equal position. The aggressiveness and accuracy of his play has earned him this season’s brilliancy prize.

Also congratulations to Dhruv Chawla for winning this season’s Top Performance prize finishing with 5 wins in 5 games! Lastly, we have our most improved player award for Jackson Frail, gaining 110 rating points in a short season!

Dhruv fighting back from a tough position

Jackson after a pleasant opening phase of the game

Rohan Padhye 3/11/25 Rohan Padhye 3/11/25

Advanced League Brilliancy Prize Winter 2025

The 2025 Winter season of the Great Lakes Chess Advanced League has come to an end. Out of over 100 games played between some of the top middle schoolers from around Northwest Ohio , one game clearly stood out.

This game, which was won by Sam Mullins with the black pieces, shows how to expertly develop your pieces in the opening and launch a decisive attack. Sam played expertly to prevent counter play as he brought every single one of his pieces into the attack, won material, and precisely converted his advantage. Below is the game along with my analysis.

Congratulations to Sam Mullins for playing a model game of active development, giving his opponent very no opportunities to come back after going down just a single pawn. The aggressiveness and accuracy of his play has earned him this season’s brilliancy prize.

Also congratulations to Raaghav Gundabolu for winning this season’s Top Performance prize finishing with 6 wins and a draw in his 7 games! Lastly, we have our most improved player award for Drew Vollmer, gaining 106 rating points in one season!

Rohan Padhye 10/29/24 Rohan Padhye 10/29/24

Advanced League Brilliancy Prize Fall 2024

The 2024 Fall season of the Great Lakes Chess Advanced League hosted the best elementary and middle school students from around Northwest Ohio in order to compete on one of four teams in a series of matches which took place every Tuesday from September 17 to October 29.

Out of the 54 games played, one clearly stood out, not for flashy sacrifices, but for consistent high-level play throughout the entire game. Below is the game, won by Ethan Liu with the white pieces, along with my analysis.

Ethan Liu - Winner of the Brilliancy Prize

After winning two pawns in the opening, Ethan Liu consolidated his advantage and entered a winning endgame. He played the endgame extremely precisely making only one mistake in the entire game. At 66 moves, this marathon game was an incredible show of skill and persistence. Congratulations to Ethan Liu for winning this season’s brilliancy prize!

Also, a big congratulations Raaghav Gundabolu and Ashyr Nupp for winning the Highest Performance Rating and Most Improved Award respectively. They both had a phenomenal season!

Raaghav Gundabolu - Highest Performance Rating

Rohan Padhye 5/21/24 Rohan Padhye 5/21/24

Advanced League Brilliancy Prize

The most brilliant game played this season

The 2024 Spring session of the Great Lakes Chess Advanced League hosted the best elementary and middle school students from around Northwest Ohio in order to compete on one of six teams in a series of matches which took place every Tuesday from March 26 to May 21.

Over 50 games were submitted for the brilliancy prize, but only one could win. This game stood out from the rest, both in the beautiful ideas found by both players and the overall high quality of the game. Below is the game along with my analysis.

The game started very tactically with Jude opting for the risky King’s Gambit but quickly transitioned into an equal endgame. From there Chase was able to secure an advantage. However, with just one mistake Jude equalized, and both players played flawlessly for the rest of the game. Congratulations to both Jude and Chase for a spectacular game!