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Sacrifice (chess)

In chess, a sacrifice is a move that gives up a piece with the objective of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value.

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In the Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defence, the move 6.Bxf7+ is a bishop sacrifice.[1]

Any chess piece except the king may be sacrificed. Because players usually try to hold on to their own pieces, offering a sacrifice can come as an unpleasant surprise to one's opponent, putting them off balance and causing them to waste precious time trying to calculate whether the sacrifice is sound or not, and whether to accept it. Sacrificing one's queen (the most valuable piece), or a string of pieces, adds to the surprise, and such games can be awarded brilliancy prizes.[2]

Types of sacrifice edit

Real versus sham edit

Rudolf Spielmann proposed a division between sham and real sacrifices:

  • In a real sacrifice, the sacrificing player will often have to play on with less material than their opponent for quite some time.
  • In a sham sacrifice, the player offering the sacrifice will soon regain material of the same or greater value, or else force mate. A sham sacrifice of this latter type is sometimes known as a pseudo sacrifice.[3]

In compensation for a real sacrifice, the player receives dynamic, positional, or other non-material advantages which they must capitalize on, or risk losing the game due to the material deficit. Because of the risk involved, real sacrifices are also called speculative sacrifices.

Real sacrifices edit

Attack on the king
A player might sacrifice a pawn or piece to get open lines around the vicinity of the opponent's king, to get a kingside space advantage, to destroy or damage the opposing king's pawn cover, or to keep the opposing king in the center. Unless the opponent manages to fend off the attack, they are likely to lose. The Greek gift sacrifice is a canonical example.
Development
It is common to give up a pawn in the opening to speed up one's development. Gambits typically fall into this category. Developing sacrifices are frequently returned at some point by the opponent before the development edge can turn into a more substantial threat such as a kingside attack.
Strategic/positional
In a general sense, the aim of all real sacrifices is to obtain a positional advantage. However, there are some speculative sacrifices where the compensation is unrelated to an ensuing attack and may come instead in the form of an open file or diagonal, a weakness in the opponent's pawn structure, a blockade, or some other positional asset. These are the hardest sacrifices to make, requiring deep strategic understanding.

Sham sacrifices edit

Checkmate
A common benefit of making a sacrifice is to allow the sacrificing player to checkmate the opponent. Since checkmate is the ultimate goal of chess, the loss of material (see Chess piece relative value) does not matter in a successful checkmating attack. Sacrifices leading to checkmate are typically forcing, and often checks, leaving the opponent with only one or a few options.
Avoiding loss
The counterpart to the above is saving a lost game. A sacrifice could be made to force stalemate or perpetual check, to create a fortress, or otherwise force a draw, or to avoid even greater loss of material.
Material gain
A sacrifice might initiate a combination that results in an overall material gain, making the upfront investment of the sacrifice worthwhile. A sacrifice leading to a pawn promotion is a special case of this type of sacrifice.
Simplification
Even if the sacrifice leads to net material loss for the foreseeable future, the sacrificing player may benefit because they are already ahead in material and the exchanges simplify the position making it easier to win. A player ahead in material may decide that it is worthwhile to get rid of one of the last effective pieces the opponent has.

The tactical sham sacrifices can be categorized further by the mechanism by which the sacrifice is made. Some sacrifices may fall into more than one category.[4]

  • In deflection sacrifices, the aim is to distract one of the opponent's pieces from a square where it is performing a particular duty.
  • In destruction sacrifices, a piece is sacrificed in order to knock away a materially inferior—but tactically more crucial piece—so that the sacrificing player can gain control over the squares the taken chessman controlled.
  • A magnet sacrifice is similar to a deflection sacrifice, but the motivation behind a magnet sacrifice is to pull an opponent's piece to a tactically poor square, rather than pulling it away from a crucial square.
  • In a clearance sacrifice, the sacrificing player aims to vacate the square the sacrificed piece stood on, either to open up lines for his own pieces, or to put another, more useful piece on the same square.
  • In a tempo sacrifice, the sacrificing player abstains from spending time to prevent the opponent from winning material because the time saved can be used for something even more beneficial, for example pursuing an attack on the king or guiding a passed pawn towards promotion.
  • In a suicide sacrifice, the sacrificing player aims to rid themselves of the remaining pieces capable of performing legal moves, and thereby obtain a stalemate and a draw from a poor position.

Other types of sacrifices edit

Forced versus non-forced edit

Another way to classify sacrifices is to distinguish between forcing and non-forcing sacrifices. The former type leave the opponent with no option but acceptance, typically because not doing so would leave them behind in material with no compensation. Non-forcing sacrifices, on the other hand, give the opponent a choice. A common error is to not recognize when a particular sacrifice can be safely declined with no ill-effects.

Examples edit

Deflection sacrifice edit

Aronian vs. Svidler, 2006[5]
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Position after 24.exd4??


In the diagram, GM Aronian has mistakenly played 24. exd4??, opening up the e-file for Black's rook. After Svidler played 24... Re1+!, Aronian resigned, because Black's move forces the reply 25.Rxe1 (or 25.Qf1 Qxf1#), after which White's queen is undefended and therefore lost.

This particular type of sacrifice has also been called the "Hook and Ladder trick", for the white queen is precariously at the top of the "ladder", while the rook is at the bottom, supporting it.[6]

Suicide sacrifice edit

Evans vs. Reshevsky, 1963[7]
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Black to move


Black played 1... Qxg3? and White drew with 2. Qg8+! Kxg8 (on any other move Black will get mated) 3. Rxg7+!. White intends to keep checking on the seventh rank, and if Black ever captures the rook it is stalemate.

This save from Evans has been dubbed "The Swindle of the Century".[8] White's rook is known as a desperado.

Non-forcing sacrifice edit

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Position after 13...h6 14.h4


This time Reshevsky is at the receiving end of a sacrifice. White has just played h2–h4. If Black takes the knight he has to give up his own knight on f6 to avoid mate on h7. Instead, he simply ignored the bait and continued developing.

Positional sacrifice edit

Spassky vs. Tal, 1971[10]
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Black played 14...d4


In this game Black played 14... d4! 15. Nxd4 Nd5. In exchange for the sacrificed pawn, Black has obtained a semi-open file, a diagonal, an outpost on d5 and saddled White with a backward pawn on d3. The game was eventually drawn.

Sacrifice to checkmate edit

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White to move

The following example features a forced bishop sacrifice by White. White can force mate in two moves in the diagram at left as follows: 1. Bg6+ hxg6 2. Qxg6#

Queen sacrifice leads to smothered mate edit

McConnell vs. Morphy, 1849[11]
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Black to move


In this position, Black moves 22... Qg1+ forcing the white rook to take black's queen by 23. Rxg1; the king cannot take the queen because it would have been in check from the knight on h3. Having forced the rook out of a position where it was defending the f-file and into a position where it blocked the king from making any move, the black knight delivers a smothered mate by 23... Nf2#.

Philidor sacrifice edit

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Position after 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 in Petrov's Defense


A Philidor sacrifice, recommended and practiced by Philidor, is the sacrifice of a minor piece for one or two pawns for greater pawn mobility as compensation.[12] An example of this real, strategic/positional sacrifice can occur in Petrov's Defense after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 where White elects 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 (diagram). Another openings example is the Halloween Gambit.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Matanović, Aleksandar, ed. (1997). Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings. Vol. C (3rd ed.). Yugoslavia: Chess Informant. p. 216, n.51. ISBN 86-7297-035-7. 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Ng5+ Kg8 8.Ne6 Qe8 9.Nxc7 Qg6 10.0-0 (10.Nxa8? Qxg2 −/+) 10...Rb8 11.dxe5 Nxe5 (11...dxe5 12.f4 =/∞) 12.Kh1 Qh5 13.f3 h6 14.Qd4 Nc6 15.Qd3 Qa5 16.N7d5 =/∞ S. Mirkovic
  2. ^ Horowitz, Al (28 December 1967). "Chess:; A 23-Move Bind Winds Up With Brilliant Queen Sacrifice". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  3. ^ Rudolf Spielman, "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess", 1995, Dover, ISBN 0-486-28449-2
  4. ^ This classification scheme was presented by Hans Olav Lahlum in a series of articles in Norsk Sjakkblad, no. 2 2006 (p. 44), no. 3 2006 (p. 44), no. 4 2006 (p. 44), no. 5 2006 (p. 35), and no. 6 2006 (p. 31) (in Norwegian)
  5. ^ "Levon Aronian vs. Peter Svidler, Tal Memorial (2006), Moscow". ChessGames.com. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
  6. ^ The Hook & Ladder Trick 23 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine Chess Life Dana Mackenzie
  7. ^ "Evans vs. Reshevsky, US Championship (1963/64), New York, NY". Chessgames.com.
  8. ^ Stalemate! 18 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Jack O’Keefe, Michigan Chess Association.
  9. ^ "Miguel Najdorf vs. Samuel Reshevsky, New York, NY (1952)". Chessgames.com.
  10. ^ "Boris Spassky vs. Mikhail Tal, Moscow (1971)". Chessgames.com.
  11. ^ "James McConnell vs. Paul Morphy, New Orleans, LA (1849)". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  12. ^ Hooper & Whyld (1996), p. 305. Philidor sacrifice.

References edit

sacrifice, chess, other, uses, sacrifice, disambiguation, chess, sacrifice, move, that, gives, piece, with, objective, gaining, tactical, positional, compensation, other, forms, sacrifice, could, also, deliberate, exchange, chess, piece, higher, value, opponen. For other uses see Sacrifice disambiguation In chess a sacrifice is a move that gives up a piece with the objective of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent s piece of lower value abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghIn the Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defence the move 6 Bxf7 is a bishop sacrifice 1 Any chess piece except the king may be sacrificed Because players usually try to hold on to their own pieces offering a sacrifice can come as an unpleasant surprise to one s opponent putting them off balance and causing them to waste precious time trying to calculate whether the sacrifice is sound or not and whether to accept it Sacrificing one s queen the most valuable piece or a string of pieces adds to the surprise and such games can be awarded brilliancy prizes 2 Contents 1 Types of sacrifice 1 1 Real versus sham 1 1 1 Real sacrifices 1 1 2 Sham sacrifices 1 2 Other types of sacrifices 1 2 1 Forced versus non forced 2 Examples 2 1 Deflection sacrifice 2 2 Suicide sacrifice 2 3 Non forcing sacrifice 2 4 Positional sacrifice 2 5 Sacrifice to checkmate 2 6 Queen sacrifice leads to smothered mate 2 7 Philidor sacrifice 3 See also 4 Notes 5 ReferencesThis article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves Types of sacrifice editReal versus sham edit Rudolf Spielmann proposed a division between sham and real sacrifices In a real sacrifice the sacrificing player will often have to play on with less material than their opponent for quite some time In a sham sacrifice the player offering the sacrifice will soon regain material of the same or greater value or else force mate A sham sacrifice of this latter type is sometimes known as a pseudo sacrifice 3 In compensation for a real sacrifice the player receives dynamic positional or other non material advantages which they must capitalize on or risk losing the game due to the material deficit Because of the risk involved real sacrifices are also called speculative sacrifices Real sacrifices edit Attack on the king A player might sacrifice a pawn or piece to get open lines around the vicinity of the opponent s king to get a kingside space advantage to destroy or damage the opposing king s pawn cover or to keep the opposing king in the center Unless the opponent manages to fend off the attack they are likely to lose The Greek gift sacrifice is a canonical example Development It is common to give up a pawn in the opening to speed up one s development Gambits typically fall into this category Developing sacrifices are frequently returned at some point by the opponent before the development edge can turn into a more substantial threat such as a kingside attack Strategic positional In a general sense the aim of all real sacrifices is to obtain a positional advantage However there are some speculative sacrifices where the compensation is unrelated to an ensuing attack and may come instead in the form of an open file or diagonal a weakness in the opponent s pawn structure a blockade or some other positional asset These are the hardest sacrifices to make requiring deep strategic understanding Sham sacrifices edit Checkmate A common benefit of making a sacrifice is to allow the sacrificing player to checkmate the opponent Since checkmate is the ultimate goal of chess the loss of material see Chess piece relative value does not matter in a successful checkmating attack Sacrifices leading to checkmate are typically forcing and often checks leaving the opponent with only one or a few options Avoiding loss The counterpart to the above is saving a lost game A sacrifice could be made to force stalemate or perpetual check to create a fortress or otherwise force a draw or to avoid even greater loss of material Material gain A sacrifice might initiate a combination that results in an overall material gain making the upfront investment of the sacrifice worthwhile A sacrifice leading to a pawn promotion is a special case of this type of sacrifice Simplification Even if the sacrifice leads to net material loss for the foreseeable future the sacrificing player may benefit because they are already ahead in material and the exchanges simplify the position making it easier to win A player ahead in material may decide that it is worthwhile to get rid of one of the last effective pieces the opponent has The tactical sham sacrifices can be categorized further by the mechanism by which the sacrifice is made Some sacrifices may fall into more than one category 4 In deflection sacrifices the aim is to distract one of the opponent s pieces from a square where it is performing a particular duty In destruction sacrifices a piece is sacrificed in order to knock away a materially inferior but tactically more crucial piece so that the sacrificing player can gain control over the squares the taken chessman controlled A magnet sacrifice is similar to a deflection sacrifice but the motivation behind a magnet sacrifice is to pull an opponent s piece to a tactically poor square rather than pulling it away from a crucial square In a clearance sacrifice the sacrificing player aims to vacate the square the sacrificed piece stood on either to open up lines for his own pieces or to put another more useful piece on the same square In a tempo sacrifice the sacrificing player abstains from spending time to prevent the opponent from winning material because the time saved can be used for something even more beneficial for example pursuing an attack on the king or guiding a passed pawn towards promotion In a suicide sacrifice the sacrificing player aims to rid themselves of the remaining pieces capable of performing legal moves and thereby obtain a stalemate and a draw from a poor position Other types of sacrifices edit Forced versus non forced edit Another way to classify sacrifices is to distinguish between forcing and non forcing sacrifices The former type leave the opponent with no option but acceptance typically because not doing so would leave them behind in material with no compensation Non forcing sacrifices on the other hand give the opponent a choice A common error is to not recognize when a particular sacrifice can be safely declined with no ill effects Examples editDeflection sacrifice edit Aronian vs Svidler 2006 5 abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 24 exd4 In the diagram GM Aronian has mistakenly played 24 exd4 opening up the e file for Black s rook After Svidler played 24 Re1 Aronian resigned because Black s move forces the reply 25 Rxe1 or 25 Qf1 Qxf1 after which White s queen is undefended and therefore lost This particular type of sacrifice has also been called the Hook and Ladder trick for the white queen is precariously at the top of the ladder while the rook is at the bottom supporting it 6 Suicide sacrifice edit Evans vs Reshevsky 1963 7 abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghBlack to move Black played 1 Qxg3 and White drew with 2 Qg8 Kxg8 on any other move Black will get mated 3 Rxg7 White intends to keep checking on the seventh rank and if Black ever captures the rook it is stalemate This save from Evans has been dubbed The Swindle of the Century 8 White s rook is known as a desperado Non forcing sacrifice edit Najdorf vs Reshevsky 1952 9 abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 13 h6 14 h4 This time Reshevsky is at the receiving end of a sacrifice White has just played h2 h4 If Black takes the knight he has to give up his own knight on f6 to avoid mate on h7 Instead he simply ignored the bait and continued developing Positional sacrifice edit Spassky vs Tal 1971 10 abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghBlack played 14 d4 In this game Black played 14 d4 15 Nxd4 Nd5 In exchange for the sacrificed pawn Black has obtained a semi open file a diagonal an outpost on d5 and saddled White with a backward pawn on d3 The game was eventually drawn Sacrifice to checkmate edit abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghWhite to move The following example features a forced bishop sacrifice by White White can force mate in two moves in the diagram at left as follows 1 Bg6 hxg6 2 Qxg6 Queen sacrifice leads to smothered mate edit McConnell vs Morphy 1849 11 abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghBlack to move In this position Black moves 22 Qg1 forcing the white rook to take black s queen by 23 Rxg1 the king cannot take the queen because it would have been in check from the knight on h3 Having forced the rook out of a position where it was defending the f file and into a position where it blocked the king from making any move the black knight delivers a smothered mate by 23 Nf2 Philidor sacrifice edit abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefghPosition after 4 Nxf7 Kxf7 in Petrov s Defense A Philidor sacrifice recommended and practiced by Philidor is the sacrifice of a minor piece for one or two pawns for greater pawn mobility as compensation 12 An example of this real strategic positional sacrifice can occur in Petrov s Defense after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 where White elects 4 Nxf7 Kxf7 diagram Another openings example is the Halloween Gambit See also editChess tactics Desperado Exchange sacrifice Queen sacrifice Immortal Game The Game of the Century Planinc vs Minic 1973 a game that shows the sacrifice of a rook for a tempoNotes edit Matanovic Aleksandar ed 1997 Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings Vol C 3rd ed Yugoslavia Chess Informant p 216 n 51 ISBN 86 7297 035 7 6 Bxf7 Kxf7 7 Ng5 Kg8 8 Ne6 Qe8 9 Nxc7 Qg6 10 0 0 10 Nxa8 Qxg2 10 Rb8 11 dxe5 Nxe5 11 dxe5 12 f4 12 Kh1 Qh5 13 f3 h6 14 Qd4 Nc6 15 Qd3 Qa5 16 N7d5 S Mirkovic Horowitz Al 28 December 1967 Chess A 23 Move Bind Winds Up With Brilliant Queen Sacrifice The New York Times Retrieved 7 March 2011 Rudolf Spielman The Art of Sacrifice in Chess 1995 Dover ISBN 0 486 28449 2 This classification scheme was presented by Hans Olav Lahlum in a series of articles in Norsk Sjakkblad no 2 2006 p 44 no 3 2006 p 44 no 4 2006 p 44 no 5 2006 p 35 and no 6 2006 p 31 in Norwegian Levon Aronian vs Peter Svidler Tal Memorial 2006 Moscow ChessGames com Retrieved 8 August 2010 The Hook amp Ladder Trick Archived 23 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine Chess Life Dana Mackenzie Evans vs Reshevsky US Championship 1963 64 New York NY Chessgames com Stalemate Archived 18 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine Jack O Keefe Michigan Chess Association Miguel Najdorf vs Samuel Reshevsky New York NY 1952 Chessgames com Boris Spassky vs Mikhail Tal Moscow 1971 Chessgames com James McConnell vs Paul Morphy New Orleans LA 1849 Chessgames com Retrieved 1 February 2012 Hooper amp Whyld 1996 p 305 Philidor sacrifice References editAndrew Soltis The Art of Defense in Chess McKay Chess Library 1975 ISBN 0 679 14108 1 Leonid Shamkovich The Modern Chess Sacrifice Tartan Books 1978 ISBN 0 679 14103 0 Israel Gelfer Positional Chess Handbook B T Batsford Ltd 1991 ISBN 0 7134 6395 3 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sacrifice chess amp oldid 1157935194, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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