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Speculative Queen Sacs-1

Submitted by benws on Wed, 07/23/2008 at 5:33pm.

Normally when we think of a queen sacrfice, a dashing mate in 5 or a fabulous combination to win a rook comes to mind. But what if we sacrfice the queen just for some material and a chance for an advantage? Those are some of the most brilliant queen sacs of them all.

NOTE: Annotations from The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games.

» posted in Strategy
 

Comments:

by popoman - 2 days ago
sa bandang pasong tamo Philippines
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 14

wow, very interesting

by bobobbob - 25 days ago
Dallas, Texas United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 264

That is the craziest opening I've seen.

by tarabas333 - 26 days ago
Malaysia Malaysia
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 10

brrrrilllliant.........................

by texaspete - 26 days ago
London England
Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 133

The Bird game is nice but black played badly. 10.cxb4 seems a waste (why not rescue the bishop on d1 for example), and 11. Nf6 is clearly a massive blunder (e.g. Bg4 would stop any mate threat on f5)

by matt0 - 26 days ago
Italy
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 1

Brilliant :O

by bobsterlobster - 26 days ago
United Kingdom
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 10

That was a nice sacrifice by Henry Edward, then clamping the king down like that, brilliant!

by AlwaysLearning - 26 days ago
Hong Kong Hong Kong
Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 23

The Bird simulation is amazing. Though I feel Ivanchuk's was more insightful perhaps in the context of the game.

by fzweb - 27 days ago
Australia
Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 126

How did this game after the queen sac go so quickly?! At the end, white is clearly winning because black's king is separated from the queen while the two rooks can do their job.

by xoise - 27 days ago
New York United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 38

I've seen this before and I'm just curious, why can't black take the pawn on the second move?  I know I probably sound retarded, but yeah...

by drd - 27 days ago
United States
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 84

Looking at those two is very interesting.

Both involve what must be called a speculative queen sacrifice, although there is some difference in motivation.

The Bird game is romantic chess at its shakiest (although I must say I have not subjected it to computer analysis). If you don't mate the king, with that material deficit, you will lose.

But the Ivanchuk game! Look at the motivation for the sac - not just mating threats but incredible understanding of the positional aspects of the sacrifice - look at how Qg7 diverts the bishop from the protection of the knight and the queenside.

Rb1 is a wonderful move also in my opinion.

by micknek - 27 days ago
Cochabamba-Bolivia Bolivia
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 73

wowSurprised

by Mad_dog_96 - 27 days ago
Camlough Ireland
Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 153

I would never do a queen sac like that. GM's have incredible insight into positions.

by sirfraijo - 27 days ago
Mesa United States
Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 55

What about this one:

(Of course, this Queen sac is completely unsound, but Bird played against a weak player and he knew it, so why don't get some fun)

 

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