Chess

In Tesla-Bulanov (Odessa 2010) Black won with 35. ... Nf3+ which is followed by 36. Kh1 (36. Rxf3 Qxg2#) Re1+ 37. Rf1 Rxf1#

This position is from Sadhwani-Sarana (2022). Black won with 33. ... Qe4+ 34. Kh3 (if 34. Kf1, Black mates in two) 34. ... g5! 35. Qxc5 (This avoids 35. ... g4+ 36. Kh4 Be7+, but Black has more in the tank!...) 35. ... g4+ 36. Kh4 g5+ 37. Kxg5 Qf5+ 38. Kh4 Kg7 and White resigned as he is going to be mated.

White wins with 1. Nxb5! (The Knight sacrifice is necessary to enable a subsequent Bishop check as the immediate 1. d6 is insufficient because after 1. ... e6 2. Rxe6+ dxe6 3. Qxe6+ Kf8, Black's King has escaped the attack and Black is winning) 1. ... d6 (1. axb5 2. d6 e6 3. Rxe6+ dxe6 4. Bxb5+ Qd7 5. Qxe7++) 2. Nxd6+ Kd7 3. Qe6+ Kc7 4. Nxb7 and White has a mating attack.

This is a variation from Smith-Berg (2011). In this position, Black would win with 18. ... c5! Black wins as White can't save his Bishop after 19. dxc6 Rxa5, 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 or 19. Rfa1 Rb8

In Smith-Shimanov (2010) Black won a pawn with 24. ... Ng3+ 25. Kg1 Qxh2+! 26. Kxh2 Nf1! 27. Kg1 Nxd2

Frisk-Nadar (2010): 22. Bxd5 (22. Rxd5 is not as strong as Black then has time to play 22. ... Rxa3! which gives him some counterplay after 23. bxa3 Bf8) Bxd5 23. Rxd5 Rb5 24. Qd6! ... and White remains a piece up

This game was played as part of blindfold simultaneous display by Axel Smith. White overlooked the win of piece. He could have played 31. Nxg6! removing the defender of the Rook on e5 and winning a piece after 31. ... Rxf5 32. Ne7+

In Ensor - Talbot (1986), White has just played 24. Nc4 attacking the Black Queen. However, he had overlooked that this loses material to 24. ... Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 Nxd3 26. Nxd6 Nxe1 27. Rxe1 Rxd6

In Lux - Muradli (2022), White can gain a big material advantage with the Rook sacrifice 24. Rxf6 because 24. ... Qxf6 can be met by 25. Rf1

In Zemach - Muradli (2022), 41. ... Bf6 was refuted by 42 Qxf8+ Kxf8 43. Bh6+ Kg8 44. d8(Q)+ Bxd8 Rxd8#

This is from Fischer - Shocron (1959) which features as game number 6 in Bobby Fischer's "My Sixty Memorable Games". Fischer won with the sacrifice 39. Rxe6! which is winning for White after 39. ... fxe6 40. Qxe6 Kf8 41. Qxe5 Kf7 42. Bd4 but did you take account of Shocron's clever defence 39. ... Qc8? Unfortunately this doesn't work because of Fischer's reply 40.Bd7! after which Black Resigned because 40. ... Qxd7 succumbs to 41. Rxg6+ and Black loses his Queen.

1. Rh7+! Kxh7 2. Bf5+ Kg7 3. Bxe4 and Black loses a piece.

1. Qxf6! Rxd1+ 2. Rxd1 gxf6 3. Rd8+ Kg7 4. Nf5+ Kg6 5. Rg8+ Kh5 6. g4#

This position is from a friendly game between Dvoretsky and Katalymov. White won with the combination 22. Qxd7+! Kxd7 (22. ... Rxd7 also results in mate: 23. Rc8+ Bxc8 24. Rxc8+ Rd8 25. Bc6+ Kf8 26. Rxd8#) 23.Rc7+ Ke8 24. d7+! Rxd7 25. Rc8+ Bxc8 26. Rxc8+ Rd8 27. Bc6#

This position is from the game between Magnus Carlsen and Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa played in the Wijk aan Zee Masters 2023. Magnus played 22. Rfe1? missing the opportunity to get a winning advantage with a small tactic: 22. Nxf7 Kxf7 (if Black doesn't take the Knight, White will just withdraw it and be a healthy pawn up) 23.Rf3! (23. Qf3? is a mistake because it leaves the d-pawn undefended which means that after 23. ... Qd7 24. g4, Black has the reply 24. ... Bd4) 23. ... Qd7 24. Qd3 and Black's position is pretty hopeless. After the game continuation Black was only slightly worse and the players agreed a draw on move 67.

This position is from the game between Magnus Carlsen and Erwin l'Ami. White won with 94. Nh4+! and Black resigned as White wins the Rook after 94. ... Ke3 (94. ... Kf2 95. Rg2+) 95. Rg3+ Kf2 96. Rg2+ Kf1 Rxa2

In Magnus Carlsen and Alexei Shirov, White won with 33. Rxd8+ and Black resigned because of 33. ... Kxd8 34. Qb8+ Qc8 (34. ... Ke7 35. Bb4+) 35. Qxa7.

60. ... h3! was played in the 6th game of the World Championship Match 2013 between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. The doubled pawns are an asset to Black, giving him victory. As the g-pawn disappears, the f-pawn becomes unstoppable, because White's queenside pawns don't allow saving side checks by the rook. The game concluded 61. gxh3 Rg6 62. c4 f3 63. Ra3+ Ke2 64. b4 f2 65. Ra2+ Kf3 66. Ra3+ Kf4 67. Ra8 Rg1 0-1

This is a 1997 study by Yochanan Afek. The obvious first move is 1. Nhg4?, but this fails to 1. ... f1(Q)! 2. Nxf1 Kg2 3. h4 Kxf1 4. h5 Ke2! and the Black pawn cannot be stopped. Instead White wins in just three moves: 1. Nhf1 g2 2. h4 g1(Q) 3. Kf7! and Black is in zugzwang - he can't move the Queen without putting it en prise!

This position is from Vaccoroni Mazzoki (Roma 1891). White's mate in three is 1. Qg4+ Bxg4 2. Rxh6+ gxh6 3. Bf7#

This position is from Viswanathan Anand v. I Sokolov (1989). Anand played 22. Na4, overlooking winning material with 22. Nxe6 Qxe6 23. Nxd5 cxd5 24. Qxb5+ and 25. Qxc5

This position is from Nikolas Lubbe v. Sreyas Payyappat (2022). Black let a win slip by playing 36. ... Ra3. There are two better moves. 36. ... Nd3!? should win but White has some chances. However, 36. ... Nc4! is winning in all lines: If 37. bxc4 there is 37. ... Bxd4+ 38. Kh1 Ree2 and the Black Rooks will cause complete devastation. If 37. Bxc4 then there is 37. ... Bxd4+ which is followed by ...Rxa8 and White has lost a Rook. If 37. Bf2 Nd2 38. Rd1 Nxb3 the passed b-pawn will win the game. Finally, 37. Bxg7 is met by 37. ... Ree2 and once more Black's Rooks are too strong for White.

This position is from Emmanuel Lasker v. Fortuin Harreman (1908). Lasker was able to set up Anastasia's Mate starting with 29. Ne7+. Black could now give up his queen and the game would go on a few moves longer but instead his opponent obligingly played 29. ... Kh8 whereupon Lasker forced mate with 30. Qxh7+ Kxh7 31. Rh4#

This is from the game J R Capablanca v R Raubitschek played in New York 1906. The future World Champion had the vision to see that the King could be trapped in a mating net. Capablanca played 32. Rxa7+ Qxa7 33. Ra5 Qxa6 34. Rxa6#

This is from the game Karl Barnsley v Jonathan Howarth played in the First Division of the East Lancashire League in 2025. White had played his attack with great vigour to this point and finished off nicely with 27. Bxg7+! after which Black simply cannot prevent mate. The game continuation went 27. ... Kxg7 28. Qd4+ Kh6 29. Qf6+ Kh5 30. g4#

Black's last move (18. ... Nb6), in the game Stein v Portisch (Stockholm Interzonal 1962), resulted in the weakening of his f6-square. As a result Stein was able to carry out a decisive attack - 19. Nxg7! Bxc4 (if 19. ... Kxg7 20. Bf6+ Kg8 21. Qf3 Qc8 22. Qg3+ Bg4 23. Rf5 mate would follow) 20. Bf6!!(all other moves lose, but this one wins because of the threat of mate via Nf5-h6) 20. ... Be7 (20. ... Nd7 is answered by 21. Rxd7 re-instating the previous threat and 20. ... Bxe2 allows White to carry out his threat with 21. Nf5+ Kg8 22. Nh6#) 21. Qf3 and due to the imminent threats of Ne8+ or Nh5+ followed by mate, Portisch resigned.