Sacrifice (chess)
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In the game of chess, a sacrifice is the deliberate forsaking of a chess piece by a player, allowing or even forcing the opponent to capture it. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value.
Ordinarily, if a player loses a chess piece or exchanges it for a lower value piece, it is detrimental to their game, decreasing their chances of winning and/or increasing the chances of losing the game. However, in the event of a sacrifice, the intention is to improve one's position. To be a sacrifice, the piece is deliberately given up by the sacrificing player, not lost due to oversight or a forced capture. In spite of the intended effect, a sacrifice can still turn out to be a mistake.
Any chess piece except the king can be sacrificed, although the loss of a pawn is sometimes not called a sacrifice. However, some pawns are key factors in some positions and deliberate forsaking of such key pawns would be considered pawn sacrifices. Because loss of a piece, especially a valued one, is ordinarily bad for a player's game, a sacrifice or the offering of one often seems superficially anti-logical and is often an unexpected or surprise move. The surprise sacrifices of a queen, the most valuable piece, or of multiple pieces are considered to be the most showy sacrifices.
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[edit] Types of sacrifice
The primary way of classifying sacrifices is as pseudo and true sacrifices. The former type are also called "sham" sacrifices — the side that makes a sham sacrifice typically has the end goal of the sacrifice in sight and has precisely determined how to achieve it. A pseudo-sacrifice is one of numerous chess tactics, often used in conjunction with other types of tactics. Since they are typically part of a combination, pseudo sacrifices are also called combinational sacrifices.
On the other hand, a true sacrifice is one that produces less direct results. The sacrificing side might obtain some compensation for the material lost, but it is not clear even after several moves that their chances are any better than they were before the sacrifice was initiated. True sacrifices are also called speculative sacrifices and positional sacrifices. However, some writers reserve the latter term to sacrifices that result in positional, as opposed to material gain, regardless of whether the sacrifice is true or not.
One can further subclassify sacrifices according to the type of benefit derived (this division is neither strict nor exhaustive):
[edit] Pseudo 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 (value of chess pieces) should 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.
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 which results in an overall loss 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.
[edit] True 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. However, the path to checkmate might not be clear, and one might not exist. If the opponent fends off the attack while managing to keep the material, they will usually win the game. 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, else the development edge might be leveraged to create more substantial threat such as a kingside attack.
Strategic/positional. In a general sense, the aim of all true 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, and it is not even clear how this might potentially be turned into something more tangible. These are the hardest sacrifices to make; they require deep strategic understanding.
Bishops Sacrifice. This involves sacrificing a bishop in the beginning of the game to get an extra pawn and not allow the opponent to castle.
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Another distinction is 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 among inexperienced players (and often even among masters) is to not realize that a particular sacrifice can be safely declined with no ill-effects.
[edit] Examples
Avoiding loss. 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.
A non-forcing sacrifice. This time Reshevsky is at the receiving end of a sacrifice. White has just played h2-h4. If black takes the knight he will soon get mated on the h-file, but he simply ignored the bait and continued developing.
A positional sacrifice. Black played 1... d4! 2. 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. However, it is by no means clear that this is adequate compensation. The game was eventually drawn.
[edit] See also
- Exchange sacrifice
- Queen sacrifice
- Chess strategy and tactics
- Chess terminology
- Algebraic chess notation
[edit] 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.
- Evans - Reshevsky, USA 1963 (java interface)
