what makes a move brilliant?

@glbert said in #9:

how about losing in a seemingly unlosable position? i can show some examples from my own games if you want to.

Like "outsmarting yourself"? Only an idiot would do that! ... flipping through my recent 100 classical OTB games ... cough ... I think I might have found an example or two (dozens). ;-)

And they are also very "satisfying" because they tend to come up after very long thinks. It really takes time to convince you of their greatness.

Because it emits light. So it’s brilliant

This is scholars mate is it brillant for every catogary 1 2 3

#13
Scholar's Mate 1 e4 e5 2 Qh5 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6? 4 Qxf7#
is not brilliant.
Qxf7# is a winning move, is the only winning move, but is neither a sacrifice, nor a quiet move.

Here is another example of a true brilliant move:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1031957
The move 30 Ba3 is a brilliant move as it satisfies all 4 criteria.

“It was a pleasure to lose to Botvinnik, he played so well. He misled me completely.
I thought I was winning. Very clever ! Very good!” - Capablanca

When I played 1.e4, I Got a vision. So 1.e4 emitted light. So 1.e4 is brillant

@kindaspongey said in #6:

... In terms of ECO code definitions, I believe that, strictly speaking, it is possible for Black to make a drawing move in a
+
-
position, but not possible for Black to make a drawing move in a +- position.
@DuMussDieUhrDruecken said in #7:
... ' ± and +- ' are "ECO Code definitions" ??? ...
I did not write that.
@tpr said in #10:
... 'There are no exclamation marks, as they serve no useful purpose. The best move should be mentioned in the analysis in any case; an exclamation mark can only serve to indicate the personal excitement of the commentator.[' - GM Robert Hübner ...
I have not heard news of the chess world adopting the Hübner standard.

Something that most engines do not see, is what I consider a brilliant move.
Do GM's make brilliant moves? Well if other GM's did not see it, than it's brilliant too.
Do experts make brilliant moves? Well if the other experts cannot see it, than it's a brilliant move.

A brilliant move is relative to your peers of similar ratings.

@Toscani said in #17:

Something that most engines do not see, is what I consider a brilliant move.
Do GM's make brilliant moves? Well if other GM's did not see it, than it's brilliant too.
Do experts make brilliant moves? Well if the other experts cannot see it, than it's a brilliant move.

A brilliant move is relative to your peers of similar ratings.

Now that's a brilliant comment .. for your rating :) jk

A brilliant move is creatively surprising. We don't realize how brilliant it is until we analyse the game and discover that that was the turning point of no return.

The concept of brilliant is very old and perhaps has evolved over the years. If I remember correctly, Colle received a brilliancy prize for 12 Bxh7+ in his game against O’Hanlon back in 1930. (1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3 c5 4 c3 e6 5 Bd3 Bd6 6 Nbd2 Nbd7 7 O-O O-O 8 Re1 Re8 9 e4 dxe4 10 Nxe4 Nxe4 11 Bxe4 cxd4 12 Bxh7+ Kxh7 13 Ng5+ Kg6 14 h4 Rh8 15 Rxe6+ Nf6 16 h5+ Kh6 17 Rxd6 Qa5 18 Nxf7+ Kh7 19 Ng5+ Kg8 20 Qb3+ 1-0)
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1316498