A Memorable Sacrifice

I recently played a game of speed chess at chess.com against a Canadian, Jlnfrtn. In the game I played white. During the game, I sacrificed my knight to expose his king and pin his knight. It was a memorable sacrifice which helped me to win the game. Here are the moves of the game along with my commentary:

1. e4 c5
2. d4 cxd
3. c3 dxc
4. Nxc3 Nc6

I sacrifice a pawn for rapid development.

5. Bc4 e5
6. Nf3 h6
7. h3 Bb4

I play h3 to prevent a future pin on my knight by the black bishop.

8. 0-0 Nf6
9. Re1 Bxc3

Black decides to ruin my pawn structure but gives up a valuable bishop.

10. bxc3 0-0
11. Bd2 a6
12. Qc1 Kh7

I plan to sacrifice my bishop on h6 but black prevents this with Kh7.

13. Ng5+ hxg5

I sacrifice my knight to open the h-file and pin the black knight with my bishop.

14. Bxg5 b5
15. Bb3 d6

Black opens a diagonal for his bishop.

16. Qd1 Bb7

I play a waiting move.

17. Qd3 Kg6
18. Qg3 Kh7
19. Qh4+ Kg6
20. Re3 Rh8

I want to use my rook in an attack against the black king.

21. Qg3 Kh7
22. Bxf7 Qe7

My move is powerful because it takes away g8 and g6 as escape squares for the black king. Black attacks my bishop but this is a mistake. He has no time for this move. He should play g6 so that g7 becomes an escape square. However, he is clearly in trouble.

23. Qh4+

Black resigns. The only move for black is Nh5 but then I play Qxh5 and it is checkmate. Black loses because he cannot protect his king. Two key moves for me in this game are my knight sacrifice, Ng5+, and the capture of a key pawn by my bishop, Bxf7. My sacrifice proves successful.