No. 1  Phillips-Schwartzman (1997 Chess.net GM Invitational)
René Phillips, a New Orleans native, has recently suffered a tragedy by losing his worldly possessions in Hurricane Katrina (August 2005). He, his wife and three teenage children are currently attempting to rebuild in Philadelphia, USA. One of the earliest online chess servers was chess.net, a service created by the uncle of Napster's Shawn Fanning. In one of their tournaments, Phillips reached the following position from his beloved London System. The Romanian GM tried to bulldoze white on the kingside, but Phillips' king sprinted to the queenside and rooks plowed through on the f-file. His finished the game with the cute 34. Rg7+! (34.Qf6 allows black to draw with 34…Qxe3+). After 34…Kh8 (34…Kxg7 35.Qf7+ Kh8 36.Ng6#) 35.Rh7+! Kxh7, black resigned after 36.Qf7+ since mate is a couple of moves away (as described above). All the best to Phillips and his family! (See game)

No. 2 Skinke-Parrilla (2005 World Youth Ch.,  Under-14;  Belfort, France) Medina Parrilla will begin a new level of competition entering her high school years. She had a stellar career at MS-118, going undefeated in scholastic nationals while leading her team to a couple of titles. In this game she  schools Katrina Skinke of Latvia. Parrilla won the two bishops in the middlegame and they cut across the board with great effect. White managed to trade off a set of pieces to relieve pressure, but in doing so had to allow black's rook to penetrate. Parrilla closed out the game with the winning King's march of 39...Kf5!  And white is helpless against 40…Kg4 and 41…Kxg3 and the eventual checkmated king on h1. (See game; Medina Parrilla)

No. 3  Barrett-Wamala (2005 U.S. Open; Phoenix, USA)
Jessica Wamala  represented Massachusetts in the 2005 Polgar Invitational, but her eyes were set on qualifying for the U.S. Championship. In the last round, her chances had been mathematically eliminated, but she had a chance to win her "C" section. In this last round game, Jessica almost saw her hopes squashed when she made a terrible blunder in the opening. Fortunately, her opponent missed it and handed over the initiative. His king ended up in open terrain and in the diagrammed position, Jessica played 25…Nxd4! crashing through white's position and creating terrible forking threats. Barrett played 26.Kc4 (26.Kxd4 Rad8+ 27.Nd5 (27.Kc3 Qxc5+) Rxd5!) and resigned after the forking tactic 26...Ne5+. This win gave Jessica 1st place in "C" section of the U.S. Open and probably the biggest payday of her life. Congratulations! (See game; Jessica Wamala)

No. 4  Chevannes-Howard (2000 UK Chess Challenge; Birmingham, England)
This is a great finish by the then 13-year old phenom from England.  Playing a much higher-rated opponent, she finished the game with a furious king hunt ending in mate. FM Emory Tate would appreciate this sequence. After sacrificing a knight to shatter the king's position, black panicked. Sabrina's pieces started to buzz around the black king and she uncorked the deadly 25.Rxd7+!! Qxd7 26.Qxf6+ Kc7 (26…Re7 is met by 27.Bc2!) 27.Rc1+ Kb6 28.Qf4! Sacrificing more material for mate! Black fails to appreciate the danger and plays 28…Qxh7?? (Better is 28…Rad8, but white still has an overwhelming attack.) and was mated several moves later. Chevannes got the job done with 29.Qd6+  Ka5 30. b4+ Ka4 31. Qd1+! Kb5 32. a4+ (Quicker was 32.Rc5+ Kxb5 33.Qd4+ Ka4 34. Ra5#) 32…Kxb4 33. Qd4+ Ka5 34. Rc5+ b5 35. Rxb5+ Ka6 36. Qd6#. (See game; profile of Sabrina Chevannes)