How to Win the Game with a Triple-Exclamation Move

A brilliant move, or even a double-exclamation move, is the holy grail for many chess players. Everyone is searching for it, but finding one in a real game is not easy.
But have you ever heard of a triple-exclamation move?

This position comes from the game Veselin Topalov vs. Alexei Shirov, 1998. It is Black to move.
Black played a move that is considered worthy of three exclamation marks.

If you can find it without having seen the game before, you are doing something right. The solution is below.

47... Bh3!!!

Black sacrifices the bishop and creates another passed pawn on the f-file (now Black has 3 passed pawns). Additionally, it creates a route for Black's king to enter through f5-e4, supporting the passed pawns.

That idea is considered one of the best moves in the history of chess and is very often described with a triple exclamation mark (!!!).

This is not just a historical curiosity. Recently, I played a game where I was able to use a very similar idea myself. Different position, same logic.

Below, I will show you how this concept appeared in a practical game and how you can start spotting these moments in your own games.

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