Sozinful Compound Sacrifice
Submitted by
GreenLaser on Fri, 08/01/2008 at 12:42pm.
The variation of the Sicilian Defense with 6.Bc4 shown here is known as the Sozin Variation or Attack, named after the Russian, Veniamin Sozin (1896-1956). In the years after Sozin's death, the line was use by the American, Bobby Fischer (1943-2008), with the result that it is also called the Fischer-Sozin or Fischer Attack. If White plays 7.Be3 and 8.Qe2, with the aim of castling long as done by the Serb, Dragoljub Velimirovic (1942-), the line is called the Velimirovic Attack. This game has what I call a compound sacrifice. It happens when Black plays d5, following the precept that if Black can play d5 in the Sicilian Defense the game is equal. White captures the d5-pawn with a knight. White sometimes can play Nd5 without capturing a pawn, as shown on nearly 50 pages by David Levy, Scotland's top board in the 1972 Skopje Olympiad, in Sacrifices in the Sicilian (1974). When that occurs, the sacrifice is often positional, and White has or does not have enough compensation. In the current game, Black must accept the sacrifice or be a pawn down. This sac would have made no sense unless White had a follow up. Then White follows up with a queen sacrifice which wins. The initial sacrifice was based on having a second sac. Therefore, Black played d5, but did not "have" d5 (d5 did not equalize). Playing d5 was an extra pawn move or tempo that Black could not afford.
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