Failed execution

4. Nxe5, 12. rxa8.

And if nothing else, 25. ra8 and at several later points picks up the queen for a rook.  There may be a mate, but going for a winning material advantage is also valid sometimes.

Nxe5 fxe5 Qh5+ And you have a huge amount of pressure on the opponents king

27. Qe6 is the only forced mate I can see that you missed. btw the reason you struggle at finalizing your attacks is probably because you don't settle for a gain that isn't checkmate. White is completely winning in the final position, and he doesn't need an immediate mate to prove it. Just 28. Nxh6 Re7 29. Ng4 Rf7 30. e5 fxe5 31. Nxe5 followed by a mass trade on d7 wins easily.

13 qh5+ forces mate in three.  (... Ke7 14: Qf7+ Kd6 15: Ncb5#).

Thanks a lot folks! @ GambitKnight:I totally missed that. i'll be sure to be more aware of these kinds of things.

one question-- 27. Qe6 doesn't seem to force mate, as khpa21 says.   black could then do Re8--  play it out and black still has options.  am I missing something?

jpr1 - That's right. I must've not been thinking when I posted that.

cool-- no problem at all.

thanks for the reply