23...Nb6? 

Palooka fails to find the more tenacious 23...Rg8! when I had planned (sure Larry) 24.e6 Kh8 25.e7 Qb8 26.Ne4 Bg7 27.Nxd6 h6 28.Qe6 Nf8 29.Qh3 Qxd6 30.e8=Q Nh7 31.Bf4 Qd4+ 32.Qee3 and White wins.

24.Bf6+ Kh6 25.Rf4

25.Qd2+! was quicker.

25...g5 26.Qf3 Qf7

26...Be7 27.Qh5 mate.

27.Rh4+! gxh4 28.Qf4+ Kg6 29.Qg5 mate.

vaska (2494) - IanCurtis (2268) [C10]
ICC 1 0 Internet Chess Club, 2004
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Bc4 Ngf6 7.Qe2 Nxe4 8.Qxe4 0–0 9.Bf4 c5 10.0–0–0 Qb6 11.h4 Nf6 12.Qd3 cxd4 13.Be5 Bd7 14.Ng5 g6 15.h5 Rac8 16.hxg6 hxg6 17.Rh6 Rxc4

FIND THE KASHDAN SAC

18.Qxg6+!

A Kashdan sac. What is a Kashdan sac? During the famed Lone Pine tournaments, the generous sponsor of the tournament, Louis D. Statham, awarded brilliancy prizes for the two most brilliant games for each round of the tournament. GM Isaac Kashdown was the judge and we all understood that Kashdan awarded his prizes based on quantity of material sacrificed, not on depth or “degree of difficulty.” So participants in Lone Pine soon learned that if one had the choice between forcing mate with a queen or rook sac, one always chose the queen sac in order to gain Kashdan's favor.

18…fxg6 19.Rxg6+, 1–0.

vaska (2429) - AZ79 (2284) [C03]
ICC 1 0 Internet Chess Club, 2004
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Nxf6+ Nxf6 8.Bd3 b6 9.Qe2 Bb7 10.Ne5 0–0 11.0–0–0 Qd5 12.Kb1 Rfd8 13.h4 g6? 14.h5 Nxh5?15.Bxe7 Nf4

CREATE A CLASSIC MATING PATTERN

16.Bf6 Nxe2

TIME FOR THE EXECUTION

17.Rxh7 Nc3+ 18.bxc3, 1–0.

vaska (2522) - pegadadura (2233) [B67]
ICC 1 0 Internet Chess Club, 2004
1.Nf3 c5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 d6 5.Bg5 Nc6 6.e4 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0–0–0 Bd7 9.h3

A minor mouseslip (9.h4 was the intention) that slows down White's attack.

9...b5 10.f4? b4 11.Nxc6 Bxc6 12.Nd5 exd5 13.exd5 Bd7 14.Bd3 Be7 15.Kb1 0–0 16.h4 a5 17.Rde1 Re8 18.h5 h6 19.Re3 Nxd5

19...hxg5 20.fxg5 Nxd5 21.Rg3.

20.Rg3 Kf8 21.Bxh6! gxh6 22.Bh7 Nf6 23.f5 Ng4 24.Rxg4 Bg5 25.Qxd6+ Qe7??

WHITE FORCES MATE

25...Kg7 26.Rxg5+ Qxg5 27.Qxd7 Qxh5 wins.

26.Qxh6+! Bxh6 27.Rg8 mate.

vaska (2426) - Ivel (2152) [A53]
ICC 1 0 Internet Chess Club, 2004
1.c4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Bg4

A typical bullet trick which I fell into even though I was fully aware that Ivel had a tendency to play for these traps.

4.e4 Bxd1 5.Kxd1

Of course I continue playing – it is bullet after all!

5...Nc6 6.d5 Nd4 7.Be3 e5 8.dxe6 Nxe6 9.h3 Be7 10.Bd3 Qc8 11.Rc1 a6 12.Kc2 c5 13.Nf3 b5 14.cxb5 axb5 15.Bxb5+ Kf8 16.Kb1 Qb7 17.Rhd1 Nxe4 18.Bc4 Nxc3+ 19.Rxc3 Rb8 20.Rb3 Qc8 21.Rbd3 g6? 22.Bh6+ Kg8 23.Re1

I began to feel optimistic at this point.

23...Bf8 24.Bd2 Rb6 25.Rde3

25...Bg7?

25...Qb7 26.Rxe6 Rxb2+ 27.Kc1 Rxd2 28.Nxd2 fxe6 29.Bxe6+ Kg7.

26.Rxe6! Rxb2+ 27.Kc1 Qb7??

27...Rb1+! should win.

28.Re8+ Bf8 29.Rxf8+! Kg7

Avoiding 29…Kxf8 30.Bh6+ Kg8 31.Re8 mate.

30.Rxf7+ Qxf7 31.Bc3+ Qf6 32.Re7+ Kh6 33.Bxf6 Rxf2 34.Bg5+ Kh5 35.g4 mate.