Everyone has that one brilliancy or near-brilliant game inside of him or her. Here is my favorite game. It was played against a very strong postal player, but here he made several weak moves. My scoresheet shows his rating at that time to be 1977, a CCLA rating. His last rating in the USCF is 1951. I did not complete this tournament.

<Focus> – H.W. Gustafson Torre Attack
CCLA Grand National Preliminaries

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.Bg5 e6 4.e3 c5 5.c3 Be7 6.Nbd2 Nbd7 7.Bd3 c4 8.Bc2 Nb6

<Weak.>

9.O-O O-O 10.Ne5 Ne8

<Weak again.>

11.Bxe7 Qxe7 12.f4 f6?

<I was surprised at this weak move. My opponent was rated much higher than me in this postal federation, although we both had Expert ratings in the USCF.>

13.Bxh7+! Kxh7 14.Qh5+ Kg8 15.Ng6 Qd6

<If 15...Qc7 16.Nf3 Qd7 17.Ng5 (Sacrificing a second piece as White threatens mate by Qh8.) 17...fxg5 18.fxg5 Rxf1+ 19. Rxf1 (Threatens mate by Rf8.) 19...Nf6 20. gxf6 Kf7 21.fxg7+ Kxg7 22.Qh8+! (Sacrificing a third piece for mate.) 22...Kxg6 23.Rf6+ Kg5 24.Qh6+ Kg4 25.Rf4 mate.>

16. e4! Kf7

<If 16...dxe4 17. Nxe4 Qc7 18. Ng5! and the mating theme is the same as in the last note: 18...fxg5 19. fxg5 Rxf1+ 20. Rxf1 Nf6 21. gxf6 gxf6 22. Qh8+ Kf7 23. Rxf6 mate. The purpose of 16. e4 as opposed to 16. Nf3 is simply to drive the Black Queen off the third rank and away from f8.>

17. e5 Qc7 18. Nf3 Nd7 19. Ng5+ fxg5 20. fxg5+ Nef6 21.gxf6 1–0.