Have you ever played a '!!' move?

So, here's my question:  have you ever played a truly brilliant move, worthy of a double-exclamation mark?  If so, what was it?  If not, what was your closest attempt?  If you were going to pick one move that you've ever played to put out there in front of the global chess community and say: "this is me at my best", what would it be?

I was thinking about this recently and looking at some of my own games.  Maybe there is a question as to whether an amateur player can ever really play a 'brilliant' move - I mean, most of the time we don't face 'optimal' play and when we do tear an opponent apart with a devastating attack, it will often be because they blundered or played poorly.

Anyway, I reckon my best move ever (so far) is probably 28.g5 in the following game.  Stockfish doesn't seem to see it at first (at least my version), but after it's played, it thinks about it and then gives it a +2 to White:

It was an online game and probably one of the most complex games I've ever played - an opposite-side castling Classical Sicilian.  I'm giving the move a single ! because I missed a forced mate in 7 after 29..Bxd4 (I think if I'd found that it could have been a !!).  Still, I was along the right lines and I think my idea with 30.f6 was valid - even though I'm down a knight, Stockfish evaluates that at around +1.7.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to play the resulting attack correctly and we ended up agreeing a draw (although, according to Stockfish, Black could have pressed for the win).

So, that's probably my best effort so far - what's yours??

Doesn't anyone else want to share their 'best ever' move?  There must be some good ones out there? 

What do you think of mine?  Does it deserve a '!' ?

I am pretty sure i have never played an '!!' move in my life before HAHA! But i could give you plenty of '??'s xD . Ok...i feel that your move would deserve the great Double Exclam ( DE ) IF , you had saw the mate through with 30.gxh6! . Ofc it deserves an '!' to say the least. My question is , under which circumstances could I get the '!' or '!!' marks if i made a move resulting in a win for me by FORCED mate '?!' ( yep just made a pun .) xD

@ Time4Tea: I certainly do not play at the high level you do, but I do have one question: Why did you not move 31.Nf6+? Play could have gone 31.Nf6+...Bxf6, 32.gxf6+...Kf8, 33.Qg7+...Ke8, 34.Qg8#. So, Your Knight would have been safe on f6.

@ EwSpectre:  Don't worry - I've played plenty of '??' moves as well.  I think this one was a rare exception to the norm! 

I think your question is a good one.  I mean, it's totally possible for your opponent to essentially 'gift' you a forced mate, if they make a blunder.  Like overlooking a mate-in-1, for example, even if you didn't make any particularly great move.

I guess my answer is that I would consider a move that ends up being a forced mate a '!' or '!!' if it involves a clever, non-intuitive sacrifice, or a long, complex forced line that is difficult to calculate.  Something that your opponent couldn't reasonably have seen coming.  Like the mate in the 'immortal game', for example.

@ akafett:  that is a really good question.  I played 31. f6 because I wanted to lock out Black's Bishop first, but yes, I could have played Nxh6+ and then f6.  I think I could have played those moves in either order, as the Nxh6+ was still there next move, after 31. f6 b3.

I think 32. axb3 was actually the poor move (it is according to Stockfish).  I was definitely eyeing-up Nxh6+, but after he played ...b3, I was basically bricking myself about his Queenside attack - I didn't think I had enough tempos to make Nxh6+, followed by attacking down the h-file, work.  I was worried that he'd play bxc2+ and mate me.

I will analyze that line after 31. Nxh6+ and add it to my original post, because I'm curious as to how that would have turned out.

Here's Stockfish's line after 31. Nxh6+.  It looks like White can regain the piece with quite a nice position, but I didn't find it during the game:

I've played moves that I thought were good for my standards, but never anything that impressive. I do think my best move ever was probably from a game at the UMBC Open, which I have posted on a blog on chess.com and when I am using a computer instead of this iPad I might also post here.

Nice move, Zigwurst!  I found it eventually, but it's definitely impressive that you found it in a live game (especially against a master)  :-)

I've played better moves than this, but this is the subtlest one I can think of at the moment.

My awesome moves (this was the first game I ever played in a tournament (OTB).

That's a very nice combination 9thEagle!

@danny_dan:  lol - I'm sure you've improved a bit since then!  :-)

Yes, I have....purely by dum dum accident....and it was a !!....'cuz I thought it was........

....which begs me to ask....Has there ever been a ! or !! while giving checkmate ?

I've never heard of one....maybe you have ? 

I've given myself !! many times in my own annotations. Not because this move is necessarily world-class, but because these moves had for my skill level a new discovered sophisticated idea behind them and it worked out.

If a 1000 player were to see a checkmate by double-check while his/her queen is en-prise, i would annotate it as !! for him/her!

I think annotation is skill level dependent.