Every chess player dreams of  the perfect attack, where he throws piece after piece to expose the opponent's King to the onslaught of his remaining pieces. (hopefully there are a few remaining). It's a beautiful dream, and occasionally it becomes reality! But, most of the time this dream is shattered by either a clever defense, or a missed "brilliant" continuation, or simply lady luck was not smiling on us that day.  On that rare occasion when everything goes perfectly, past failures are quickly forgotten, and we can savor that beautiful victory forever. One brilliancy achieved is worth ten that got away! 

The following correspondence game by Dr. Danny Kopec definitely falls into that category. An early sacrifice flushes the Black King into the open, and then he is relentlessly pursued for the rest of the game. Sounds easy? Not quite! It takes numerous good moves to maintain the attack, which eventually succeeds when the defense becomes increasingly difficult.

Danny and I met at the University of Illinois, the main campus at, Champaign-Urbana when he arrived in 1980 to continue his graduate work in computer science. Not surprisingly his thesis topic was Computer Chess and Artificial Intelligence. But, it was our other common hobby that first brought us in contact - tennis! We spent many enjoyable hours swatting tennis balls, playing and discussing chess at Illinois and later in Southern California.

Danny is an over the board IM, a title he received in 1985, and has also been actively playing postal chess for many years. Besides being a very strong chess player, he is an excellent chess teacher and writer. He has written many articles for Chess Life and other publications, produced instructional videos, and authored several chess books. Since 1994 he has held a summer chess camp that provides instruction and competition for players at all levels. More detailed information about Dr. Danny Kopec, his chess camp, and other services he offers can be found at http://www.kopecchess.com.