Mikrut,D (2300) - Gara,A (2344) [A40] 17th Spring Festival Budapest HUN, 22.03.2001 1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 b6 3.e4 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Be2 Bd6 6.0-0 Ne7 7.Re1 0-0 8.Nbd2 c5 9.Nf1 Nbc6 10.Ne3 Be6 11.c3 Rc8 12.Bd3 g6 13.Nf1 cxd4 14.Nxd4 Nxd4 15.cxd4 Nf5 16.Bxf5 Bxf5 17.Ne3 Be6 18.Bd2 Qh4 threatening to take one of the two pawns. 19.g3 Qxd4 20.Bc3 Alarm bells must be ringing when 15 out of 17 squares have been effectively taken out out of the queen. 20...Qe4 [20...Qc5 there is plenty of fight left, even exchanging the queen deserves consideration. But tournament conditions are often different and difficult.] 21.f3 Black resigned as the queens runs out of a hiding place! Lets try 21...Bg4 to pin the pawn with the idea of exchanging queens! 22.Nxg4 this creates two hiding places..lets examine both 22...Qc4 [If 22...Qf5 23.Nh6# checkmate....even if a slightly different position allowed the escape of the Black king, the fork by the knight picks up the queen!] 23.Nh6# checkmate 1-0

 

Abramovic,B (2505) - Horvath,A (2412) [E11] EUCup G5 Pula, 08.10.1999 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.g3 Nc6 6.Bg2 Bxd2+ 7.Nbxd2 d6 8.Nf1 0-0 9.Ne3 d5 10.0-0 Rd8 11.Rc1 dxc4 12.Nxc4 e5 13.Ncxe5 Nxd4 14.Nxd4 Qxe5 15.Nc6 A knight sacrifice or a queen sacrifice? 15...Rxd1 16.Nxe5 All intact! 16...Rd2 17.Rfd1 Rxd1+ 18.Rxd1 Kf8 19.Rd8+ Ke7 20.Rh8 h6 21.f4 c5 22.b3 Ne8 23.Nc6+ again, is it a sac? 23...bxc6 24.Bxc6 grabing a pawn and a piece is on its way! 24...Bb7 25.Bxb7 Rd8 26.Bc6 Rd1+ 27.Kg2 Nc7 28.Rc8 Na6 29.Bb5 Nb4 30.Rc7+ Kf8 31.Rxa7 Nd5 32.Kf2 f5 33.Rd7 Nc3 34.Rxd1 Nxd1+ 35.Ke1 Nc3 36.Bd3 Nxa2 37.Bxf5 1-0

 

Shahade,G (2386) - Shliperman,I (2442) [C54] Manhattan March Int New York, 09.03.1999 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.Bb3 Bb6 8.Nbd2 Ne7 9.Re1 Kh8 10.d4 Ng6 11.Nf1 Bg4 12.Ne3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 exd4 14.Nf5 dxc3 15.Qxc3 a5 16.a4 Ne5 17.Kf1 Qd7 18.f3 Qc6 19.Bd2 Qxc3 20.Bxc3 Ne8 21.Rad1 f6 22.Ne7 Bc5 23.Nf5 g6 24.Nd4 Bb4 25.Bxb4 axb4 26.Ne6 Rf7 27.f4 Nc6 28.Nc5 Re7 29.Nxb7 Nb8 30.Nd8 Ng7 31.Nf7+ Rxf7 enough is enough! 32.Bxf7 Rxa4 33.Ra1 Black resigned as White holds a clear winning advantage. A knight jumping right into the opponent's camp with a bit of support and coordination from other pieces wins the psychological war and forces your opponent to make mistake. 1-0