chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, a clearance sacrifice is a tactical motif which involves a square on the chessboard being vacated to open up lines of attack. The tactic may also result in the substitution of a piece hindering the attack by a piece useful to the attack.

Example

In the diagram, the clearance sacrifice 1.Rf8+ vacates the f7-square and, after 1...Rxf8 (better than 1...Bxf8 2.Qg8#), White utilizes the battery on the a2–g8 diagonal. After 2.Qg8+ Rxg8 (only move), White has a classic

smothered mate In chess, a smothered mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because it is completely surrounded (or ''smothered'') by its own pieces, which a knight can jump over. The mate is usually seen in a corner ...

with 3.Nf7#, utilizing the f7-square vacated by the clearance sacrifice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clearance sacrifice Chess tactics