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Sacrifice (chess) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sacrifice (chess)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes 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.
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 him off
balance and causing much precious time to be wasted 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.[1]

1
a

The move 6. Bxf7+ is a bishop sacrifice.

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 Sacrifice to avoid losing
2.3 Non-forcing sacrifice
2.4 Positional sacrifice
2.5 Sacrifice to checkmate
2.6 Queen sacrifice leads to smothered checkmate
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References

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Types of sacrifice
Real versus sham
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 his 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.[2]
In compensation for a real sacrifice, the player receives dynamic advantages which he 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
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, he is 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 in the form of an open file or diagonal or a
weakness in the opponent's pawn structure. These are the hardest sacrifices to make, requiring deep strategic
understanding.
Sham sacrifices
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 checkmate. Sacrifices leading to checkmate are typically forcing, and often checks, leaving the
opponent with only one or a few options (example, checking the king with the knight, queen takes the knight, then
rook checkmates the king with absence on the queen).
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.
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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 in why the sacrifice is made. Some
sacrifices may fall into more than one category.[3]
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 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 himself 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

Forced versus non-forced
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
Deflection sacrifice
In the diagram,[4] GM Aronian's queen on d3 is at the top of the ladder, and his rook on d1 represents the bottom.
He mistakenly played 24. exd4??, opening up the e-file for Black's rook. After Svidler played 24... Re1+!,
Aronian was forced to resign, because Black's move forces the reply 25. Rxe1 (or 25. Qf1 Qxf1#), after which
White's queen is undefended and therefore lost.

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Aronian vs. Svidler

Tal Memorial Tournament, Moscow 2006
a

1
a

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.[5]

Position after 24. exd4??

Sacrifice to avoid losing

Evans vs. Reshevsky, New York 1963
a

1
a

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.[6]
This save from Evans has been dubbed "The Swindle of the
Century".[7] White's rook is known as a desperado.

Black to move

Non-forcing sacrifice
This time Reshevsky is at the receiving end of a sacrifice.[8] White has just played h2h4. 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.
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Najdorf vs. Reshevsky, New York 1952

a

1
a

Position after 13... h6 14. h4

Positional sacrifice
Spassky vs. Tal, Moscow 1971
a

1
a

In this game[9] 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.

Black played 14... d4

Sacrifice to checkmate
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#

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1
a

White to move

Queen sacrifice leads to smothered checkmate

McConnell vs. Morphy, New Orleans 1849
a

1
a

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# .[10]

22. ... Black to move

See also
Exchange sacrifice
Queen sacrifice
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Desperado
Chess tactics
Chess terminology
The Game of the Century
Dragoljub Mini a game shows the sacrifice of a rook for a tempo.

Notes
1. Horowitz, Al (December 28, 1967). "Chess:; A 23-Move Bind Winds Up With Brilliant Queen Sacrifice"
(http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E14F73E541B7B93C3A8178FD85F4C8685F9). The New
York Times. The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
2. Rudolf Spielman, "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess", 1995, Dover, ISBN 0-486-28449-2
3. This classification scheme was presented by Hans Olav Lahlum in a series of articles in Norsk Sjakkblad, no. 2
2006 (http://sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/06_nr2.pdf) (p. 44), no. 3 2006
(http://sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/06_nr3.pdf) (p. 44), no. 4 2006
(http://sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/06_nr4.pdf) (p. 44), no. 5 2006
(http://sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/06_nr5.pdf) (p. 35), and no. 6 2006
(http://sjakk.no/nsf/norsk_sjakkblad/06_nr6.pdf) (p. 31) (Norwegian)
4. "Levon Aronian vs Peter Svidler (2006)" (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1434844).
ChessGames.com. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
5. The Hook & Ladder Trick (http://beta.uschess.org/frontend/magazine_124_313.php) Chess Life Dana Mackenzie
6. Evans vs. Reshevsky, USA 1963 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1252040)
7. Stalemate! (http://www.michess.org/webzine_199907/okeefe.shtml) Jack OKeefe, Michigan Chess Association.
8. Najdorf vs. Reshevsky, 1952 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1101209)
9. Spassky vs. Tal, 1971 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1128868)
10. "chessgames.com" (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1075508). pp. James McConnell vs. Paul
Morphy, New Orleans 1849. Retrieved 1 February 2012.

References
Andrew 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 "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sacrifice_(chess)&oldid=646382031"
Categories: Chess tactics Chess terminology
This page was last modified on 9 February 2015, at 18:40.
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