My Gem

(EyesofBlue vs. NN)
(White to play and win)

My web log really couldn't begin without this little gem. It represents my "best" game ever played -- and for two separate reasons: 1) I ended up beating a player a couple hundred points my senior on FICS; and 2) the bold solution to the puzzle above.

This represents one of the few games in my life where I pulled of a successful queen sacrifice.

1. Qxc6 is decisive.

1... bxc5 loses. The c5 black knight was the only thing preventing 1. Nxe7+ and a nast queen/king fork. With the black knight out of the way, black is endanger of this menacing knight. 2. Nxe7+.

1... Qxc5 falls victim to the same knight fork above. 1. Nxe7+

1... (not recapturing the queen). Anything else simply results in White taking the knight for nothing in exchange.