- You can sometimes give up material and come out with an advantage.
- You often see a sacrifice as part of a combination -- a sacrificial combination, in Botvinnik's language. Spielmann didn't think these were real sacrifices.
- The advantage you get from sacrificing might be a mating attack (like the Greek gift) or just a very fine position where mate is still a long way off (Fried Liver Attack, Tal-Simagin, Bronstein-Rojahn). Spielmann called this last sort a real sacrifice.
- A sacrifice of a pawn in the opening -- for development or space -- is called a gambit.
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "URS-ch23 Final"]
[Site "Leningrad"]
[Date "1956.01.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Tal, M."]
[Black "Simagin, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B07"]
[Annotator "Lessons from Tal"]
[PlyCount "89"]
[EventDate "1956.01.10"]
[EventRounds "17"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. f4 Qb6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 Nbd7 7. e5 Nd5 8. O-O
Nxc3 9. bxc3 {[#]} e6 (9... Bxf3 10. Bxf3 dxe5 11. fxe5 Nxe5 12. Ba3) 10. Ng5
Bxe2 11. Qxe2 h6 {[#]} 12. Nxf7 {Easy to see, hard to play! Spielmann calls
this a 'real' sacrifice as opposed to those sacrificial combinations where the
hoped-for gain is clear and short- term.} Kxf7 13. f5 dxe5 14. fxe6+ Kxe6 15.
Rb1 Qxb1 16. Qc4+ Kd6 17. Ba3+ Kc7 18. Rxb1 Bxa3 19. Qb3 Be7 20. Qxb7+ Kd6 21.
dxe5+ Nxe5 22. Rd1+ Ke6 23. Qb3+ Kf5 24. Rf1+ {[#]} Ke4 (24... Kg6 25. Qe6+ Bf6
26. Qf5+ Kf7 27. Qxe5) 25. Re1+ Kf5 26. g4+ Kf6 27. Rf1+ Kg6 28. Qe6+ Kh7 29.
Qxe5 Rhe8 30. Rf7 Bf8 {tal-simagin (23rd USSR ch'p)/sacrifice: unclear
('genuine' - Spielmann) 1956/1-0 (45)} 31. Qf5+ Kg8 32. Kf2 Bc5+ 33. Kg3 Re3+
34. Kh4 Rae8 35. Rxg7+ Kxg7 36. Qxc5 R8e6 37. Qxa7+ Kg6 38. Qa8 Kf6 39. a4 Ke5
40. a5 Kd5 41. Qd8+ Ke4 42. a6 Kf3 43. a7 Re2 44. Qd3+ R2e3 45. Qxe3+ 1-0
[Event "Olympiad"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1956.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bronstein, DI."]
[Black "Rojahn"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C58"]
[Annotator "pawn mobility: pawn roller"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "1956.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. d3 h6 7. Nf3 e4 8. dxe4
$5 Nxc4 9. Qd4 Nb6 10. c4 c5 11. Qd3 Bg4 12. Nbd2 Be7 13. O-O O-O 14. Ne5 Bh5
15. b3 Nbd7 16. Bb2 Nxe5 17. Bxe5 Nd7 18. Bc3 Bf6 19. Rae1 Bxc3 20. Qxc3 Qf6
21. e5 Qf5 22. f4 Bg6 23. Ne4 Rab8 24. Qf3 Bh7 25. g4 Qg6 26. f5 Qb6 27. Qg3 f6
28. e6 Ne5 29. h4 Kh8 30. g5 Rbc8 31. Kh1 Qd8 32. g6 Bxg6 33. fxg6 b5 34. d6
Qb6 35. d7 Nxd7 36. exd7 Rcd8 37. Nxf6 Qc6+ 38. Qg2 Qxg2+ 39. Kxg2 gxf6 40. Re7
1-0