Questions tagged [sacrifice]
Question relating to sacrificing material in chess
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Are there any gambits involving sacrificing a piece?
My impression of the word "gambit" is the sacrifice of a pawn or several pawns at the opening stage of a chess game. However, based on the definition on Wikipedia, a gambit (from ancient ...
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Where can I find this game with a sacrifice followed by a long series of checks leading to a discovered mate? [duplicate]
I am looking for a chess game and frankly, I really know very little about it. I remember seeing it somewhere on the Internet.
The game goes something like this. A player (either White or Black) ...
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Spectacular queen sacrifice game
I once watched a famous chess game that I can't find anymore and maybe someone could help me find it.
The game I watched evolved somehow natural until one moment: player1 sacrifices its queen. The ...
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Why doesn't Lichess' Stockfish suggest this bishop sacrifice?
I arrived at the following position in an online game after the opponent left a queen hanging.
[FEN "r1b2r2/pp1p1ppk/2n1p3/6B1/2P5/5N2/PQ3PPP/R4RK1 w - - 0 16"]
In the game, I played 16. Bf6 with ...
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How do you judge a sacrifice?
I have been looking at several of Mikhail Tal's games recently, as they are exciting to analyze. Often Tal makes sacrifices in surprising positions, and almost always the computer finds that the ...
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History of this queen sacrifice in the 4 Knights
Arbiting an IM norm tournament last week I came across this position in one of the games. Both White's queen and bishop on a4 were en prise and it was Black's move!
My initial reaction was that I must ...
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Why did white sacrifice knight in this Nimzowitsch's 1905 game?
Saw this image in a WhatsApp group. Initially it looks attractive with a possibility of a "smothered mate", but I am unable to find out if white can really survive for several variations.
[...
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Why would a player throw a game?
So I am kind of new to chess and I have been playing online. I have been playing for a year and I consider myself a mediocre player, not too good and not too bad. Recently I got this invitation from ...
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Why is sacrificing an extra pawn good for White in the Goring gambit but bad in the Smith-Morra gambit?
In both the Smith-Morra (accepted) and Goring gambit lines, white offers a pawn on c3. If Black takes the pawn on c3, White can play Bc4, offering a second pawn in exchange for rapid development with ...
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What is the the idea behind this popular double pawn sacrifice line In the Evans Gambit?
I am learning a bit of Evans Gambit theory lately, and when exploring a Master level games database, I have found this surprising
line.
[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. ...
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How can I get a collection of chess games with a 'Greek gift' sacrifice?
I would like to make a collection of chess games that feature the 'Greek gift' sacrifice. There are few games on chessgames.com annotated with this sacrifice. I could find blogs with individual ...
user14405
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In the immortal draw, why is the Queen sac 9...Qxa4+ considered the best move?
After White's first nine moves in the Immortal Draw:
[FEN ""]
[title "Hamppe-Meitner, Vienna"]
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5 3.Na4 Bxf2+ 4.Kxf2 Qh4+ 5.Ke3 Qf4+ 6.Kd3 d5 7.Kc3 Qxe4 8.Kb3 Na6 9....
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How should I defend against this sacrifice in the Two Knights Defense?
I often get to play this opening :
[fen ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. Nc3 Bg4 (5... Be7 6. Be3 Bg4) (4... Bc5 5. Nc3 d6 6. O-O Bg4)
Sometimes there may be other moves or ...
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World Cup: passed pawns vs extra piece
[fen "N7/P3pk1p/3p2p1/r4p2/8/4b2B/4P1KP/1R6 w - - 0 34"]
[white "Max Illingworth"]
[black "Pentala Harikrishna"]
White to move.
In this World Cup game, Black demonstrated the power of pawns and won ...
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How can I to hold on to the pawn plus for black in the Queen's Gambit Accepted?
A few years back I used to play with a player who always accepted the queens gambit pawn and used to hold on to it and sometimes win with the pawn plus.
Is there any specific variation that can be ...
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Counting attackers and defenders, which pieces count?
I've heard multiple times the idea of counting attackers and defenders in estimating whether an attack/sacrifice will succeed. However, I think authors are quite loose in counting who is the attacker ...
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1
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Is this theoretical novelty double-piece sacrifice actually sound?
Working my way through Hannes Langrock's book on the modern Morra Gambit (second edition), I came across an interesting sacrifice that he believes is at best worth a draw. Indeed that's also Stockfish'...
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Could you help me to find which game this is?
When I was a kid, I remember reading a newspaper article about a chess game. The article was written as if the writer was one of the players. It was a pretty surprising game and it looked as if it was ...
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Game analysis: What would motivate a human player to sacrifice White Knight at move 10 in this game?
I am a beginner player (rating on Lichess.org around 1550). While analyzing one of my own games (pasted below), Stockfish calculated that a Knight sacrifice at 10th move is a good idea. I tried ...
user14405
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Is the following Knight sac in the Sicilian Najdorf justified?
[FEN ""]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Nbd7 8. Qf3 h6 9. Bxf6 Nxf6 10. O-O-O Qb6 11.e5 Nd7 12. Bc4 dxe5 13. Nxe6
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How do you search a chess database for exchange sacrifices?
I am looking for a way within any of the common chess packages to search for a specific maneuver, such as a rook capturing a protected. bishop. I've heard of CQL, but have never used it. I am curious ...
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Sacrificing Bishop for Two Pawns against Queenside Castling
Though queenside castling is less common, it is important enough to study. If your opponent has castled queenside, sometimes you have an opportunity to expose their King by sacrificing your Bishop for ...
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c5-c4 pawn sacrifice in Benoni line
Consider the following line
[FEN ""]
[StartPly "23"]
[StartFlipped "1"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Bd3 Bg7 8. Nge2 O-O 9. O-O Nbd7 10....
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Why does GM Larry claim that this sacrifice is brilliant?
On this webpage GM Larry Kaufman claimed (at least up to 2012) that the following move was brilliant:
[Title "Kasparov vs Shirov (Horgen 1994)"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/...
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How can I tell when to sacrifice?
What are factors to consider when and when not to sacrifice? For example, imagine in a game where your opponent puts his bishop in direct sight of yours and you're not sure whether to take it or not? ...
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Term for sacrifice that causes opponent to block an escape square?
A decoy or deflection typically lure an opponent's piece away from a square. What is it called when you sacrifice in order to lure/force an opponent to a certain square in order to prevent another ...
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Why does Stockfish recommend this queen sacrifice in this puzzle?
[Variant "From Position"]
[FEN "r1b1r1k1/pp3ppp/2p5/2Ppn1q1/1P1Q2B1/4P1N1/P4PPP/R4RK1 w - - 9 18"]
[Title ""]
1. Bxc8 Raxc8 2. f4
https://lichess.org/training/fRzq3
The ...
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Trying to locate a historical game in which the win involves sacrificing two rooks
I can't remember whether White won or Black won, but I've been wondering for years where I saw this game. I remember toward the end, only heavy pieces and pawns were left, and the winner sacrificed ...
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Can you identify this game with a mate in 12?
I vaguely remember it being from a game played in the USSR ca. 1960. I'm certain it was from before 1985.
[fen "2k1r2r/ppn3pq/b7/5p2/5Qn1/2N1B1P1/1P3PB1/2RR2K1 w - - 0 1"]
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Is there a set of general rules of material sacrifice?
I happen to be playing a game where I am up in material, but my position is weak (several pieces are trapped and cannot be developed).
I have some lines of very slow development I can play where I ...
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Shocking queen sacrifices?
I am a chess beginner and I find queen sacrifices are the most shocking moves I have ever seen.
Please, can you provide me with some shocking examples of queen sacrifices. It need not be a big list, ...
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How do I become less materialistic?
I've identified that the weaknesses in my game are:
Materialism: Most of my wins are where I've won some material and converted the advantage in an endgame. However outside of this plan, e.g. ...
user1108
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Pawn Sacrifice Justification
A few weeks ago, Magnus Carlsen (White) played against Anish Giri (Black), and this position was reached on the board on move 17 after black had played exf4:
Here is the full game:
[White "Magnus ...
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In this game, should white sacrifice their bishop to expose black's king?
I (black) reached this position in a game and realised that black's king would be totally exposed if white's bishop decided to take the pawn (1. Bxh6 gxh6).
Is the smart move here for white to ...
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Do sacrifices work mostly for masters?
Many beautiful and celebrated master games feature heavy sacrifices of material that result in checkmate, or at least the regaining of more material than was sacrificed. In most cases, the original ...
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Has Anand missed that he is better? Anand vs Andreikin round 12 Candidates tournament
I am looking at the Anand vs Andreikin round 12 Candidates tournament and I see that it ended in a draw and that based on engine evaluation Anand is much better (+ 2.8 is kind of huge). I also see ...
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Has anyone had positive results using the Ruy Lopez Norwegian variation nightingale gambit?
There is a variation of the Ruy lopez that I have recently played and made two sacrifices and ended up with a very good game, and I wanted to know if anyone else could or have tried it? Here is the ...
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Could this kind of inaccurate sacrifice be countered?
I recently played a Lichess Bullet Game as White.
[FEN ""]
1.e4 e5 2.h4 Nc6 3.d3 Nf6 4.g3 Bc5 5.Nc3 d6 6.a3 O-O 7.b4 Bxf2+ 8.Kxf2 Ng4+ 9.Ke1 a6 10.Bh3 Nd4 11.Bxg4 b5 12.Bxc8 Rxc8 13.Nge2 Nxe2 14....
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Was this sacrifice a good one?
Upon reviewing a game I played. I started to feel bad about exchanging my attacking bishop for my opponent’s useless one. But I believe that I had no other choices. I want your opinion about what I ...
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Bishop sacrifices to prevent castling
I have neen playing a higher amount of online chess as opposed to club chess lately and something I have noticed is a significant increase in Bishop sacrifices to prevent kingside castling. Here is ...
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Idea behind e-pawn sacrifice in Open Sicilian: Najdorf, Freak Attack (6. Rg1)?
There are 10 games in my database with this variation played on a high level and the White score is +6-2=2, almost always White is the elo-wise weaker player. The highest rated White player to employ ...
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Who is better after this queen sacrifice line?
I was checking Hikaru vs Caruana's round 6 game, these are the first moves:
[Event "London Chess Classic 2016"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2016.12.15"]
[Round "6.3"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "...
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Were my sacrifices sound in this game?
[FEN ""]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 { I wasnt familiar with theory here, but I vaguely remembered seeing a kingside fianchetto somewhere and it seemed reasonable. } 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 c5 6.O-O Be7 7.Nc3 ...
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Knight sacrifice performed by Deep Blue against Garry Kasparov
Below is the 1997 game of Deep Blue VS Garry Kasparov:
r1bqkb1r/pp1n1pp1/2p1pn1p/6N1/3P4/3B1N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQK2R w - - 0 1
The last move 7...h6? was played by Kasparov (black), after which Deep Blue ...
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Why sacrificing a pawn was more preferable over more materialistic moves in Nakamura vs Ding in Altibox Norway Chess 2018?
Why sacrificing a pawn in this situation, 19... h5 is slightly more preferable by engine over more materialistic g6 or Kh8? This is in fact what Ding chose to play actually. Obviously, this is to ...
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What are the merits of Anand's exchange sacrifice in game 9 of 1995 World Chess Championship?
From various sources (some of which I have mentioned below) I have heard Vishy Anand's 27th move in game 9 of 1995 world chess championship match against Gary Kasparov , which was an exchange ...
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Is this a sound elephant offer?
In the following dobutsu shogi position, is Gc3xc2 a bad move?
ABC
+---+
1| | g
2|lce|
3|E G|
4| L | *C
+---+
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What are strategic elements for a correct piece sacrifice?
I want know which plus elements need to have in general positions for a correct piece sacrifice! Or how do you know that a sacrifice is correct in complicated position?
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Is this knight sacrifice a good idea?
I often play the following variation with black when I play blitz. Somehow it refuses the known lines of the Spanish.
It looks like that black is going to be destroyed but almost always I win when I ...
3
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4
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Why are these sacrifices good moves? What are the winning follow-ups?
I was using a phone-app called Chessrating to get an estimation of my ELO rating. It gives me 16 chess positions and I have four attempts to find the best move. There were some positions that I did ...
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