White to move and win in this position

White to play for a winning advantage.

This was the position I had against an experienced veteran player in my local chess club several hours ago. I was playing White in this game, and having spent more than ten minutes in this position, I dismissed the only winning move after calculating three moves ahead and failing to find an immediate checkmate. In fact, this is the only sequence by White that wins the game; other moves draw at best with brilliant play from Black. After this missed opportunity, White is at a disadvantage both positionally and materially.

Good one Eric! I found the first three moves believe it or not, but then went to exchange queens on move 4.

I chickened out on move one after missing out on move five, since I was looking for continuous checks that eventually led to mate and I could not find an immediate mate. So I simply assumed that the actually winning variation was not winning at all.

This is what happened in the actual game a few moves before and after:

Hi Dan, it's good that you found the first three moves! Keeping the queens on the board on the fourth move is critical for White's survival, since White is a rook down and the White queen is the main hero in play. Without the queens on the board, White has no real threat against the Black king and thus, Black keeps an extra rook to the good.