Queen Sacrifice
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In
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 queen sacrifice is a move that sacrifices a
queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...
, the most powerful piece, in return for some compensation, such as a tactical or positional advantage.


Queen sacrifice: real versus sham

In his book ''The Art of Sacrifice in Chess'', Rudolf Spielmann distinguishes between ''real'' and ''sham'' sacrifices. A sham sacrifice leads to a and immediate benefit for the sacrificer, usually in the form of a quick
checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...
(or
perpetual check In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can play an unending series of checks from which the defending player cannot escape. This typically arises when the player who is checking feels their position in the game i ...
or
stalemate Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior position ...
if seeking a draw), or the recouping of the sacrificed after a forced . Since any amount of material can be sacrificed as long as checkmate will be achieved, the queen is not above being sacrificed as part of a combination. Possible reasons for a sham queen sacrifice include: * a forced checkmate (or stalemate or perpetual check if seeking a draw) after the opponent takes the queen; * more than adequate material compensation (say, a rook and two
knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
) after a forced continuation; * clearing the way for a pawn's promotion to a replacement queen along with some other advantage; * the subsequent capture of the opponent's queen along with some positional or material gain. Despite the terminology "sham", sham queen sacrifices are still often considered brilliancies and are often featured in famous games. On the other hand, "real" sacrifices, according to Spielmann, are those where the compensation is not immediate, but more positional in nature. Because the queen is the most powerful piece (see
chess piece relative value In chess, a relative value (or point value) is a standard value conventionally assigned to each piece. Piece valuations have no role in the rules of chess but are useful as an aid to evaluating an exchange of pieces. The best-known system assi ...
), positional sacrifices of the queen virtually always entail some partial material compensation (for example, sacrificing the queen for a rook and bishop). An opportunity may arise where a player trades off their queen for other pieces which may together be of equal or greater value than the queen. Bent Larsen remarks that giving up the queen for a rook and two is sometimes called a "queen sacrifice", but since a rook plus two minor pieces is more valuable than the queen, he says it should not be considered a sacrifice.


Examples


Anderssen vs. Kieseritzky, 1851

A celebrated game by
Adolf Anderssen Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (6 July 1818 – 13 March 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. ...
, the Immortal Game, featured a queen sacrifice as part of White's final mating combination. In the diagram position Anderssen gave up his queen with 22.Qf6+! to deflect Black's knight: the game continued 22...Nxf6 23.Be7#. This is an example of a sham queen sacrifice, as the sacrifice resulted in checkmate only one move later. White was able to mate since his minor pieces were clustered around the Black king, while Black's pieces were either undeveloped or trapped in the white camp and so unable to defend.


Anderssen vs. Dufresne, 1852

In another celebrated game by Anderssen, the Evergreen Game, Anderssen once again sacrificed his queen for a mating combination, playing 21.Qxd7+!!. The game continued 21...Kxd7 22.Bf5+ Ke8 23.Bd7+ Kf8 24.Bxe7#. The game is another example of a sham queen sacrifice. Although Black is on the verge of checkmating White, his defences around his king are weak, so White was able to mate.


Spielmann vs. Moeller, 1920

For an example of a "real" (positional) queen sacrifice, Rudolf Spielmann presented this game against Jorgen Moeller in Gothenburg 1920. In the first diagram Black threatens 9...Bg4 winning the queen, since it must not leave the f2-square unguarded under threat of checkmate. But Spielmann played 9.Nd2! allowing Black to win his queen, and after 9...Bg4 10.Nxe4 Bxf3 11.Nxf3 Qh6 12.Nf6+ Kd8 13.h4 the position in the second diagram was reached. White has only a knight and bishop for his queen and pawn, but his minor pieces are very active and the black queen is out of play. White won on move 28.


Pilnik vs. Reshevsky, 1942

A queen sacrifice can sometimes be used as a resource to draw. Here
Hermann Pilnik Hermann Pilnik (8 January 1914, Stuttgart, Germany – 12 November 1981, Caracas, Venezuela) was a German Argentines, German-born Argentine chess Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster. Career In 1929, he won the championship of Stuttgart. Pilnik emi ...
(White) is defending an endgame three pawns down, but played Qf2!, when
Samuel Reshevsky Samuel Herman Reshevsky (born Szmul Rzeszewski; November 26, 1911 – April 4, 1992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid 1930s to the late 1 ...
(Black) had nothing better than ...Qxf2 stalemate.


Byrne vs. Fischer, 1956

In The Game of the Century,
Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...
uncorked a queen sacrifice to obtain a winning material advantage. In the first diagram, White's king is stuck in the center and Black has control of the open e-file. Fischer ignored the threat to his queen and played 17...Be6!!. The game continued 18.Bxb6 Bxc4+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ 20.Kf1 Nxd4+ 21.Kg1 Ne2+ 22.Kf1 Nc3+ 23.Kg1 axb6 24.Qb4 Ra4 25.Qxb6 Nxd1 and Black has emerged with a large material and positional advantage. He can threaten back-rank mate to win even more material; his pieces are coordinated and White's rook is trapped in the corner. Black went on to win the game.


Carlsen vs. Karjakin, 2016

In the World Chess Championship 2016,
Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
defeated Sergey Karjakin in the final tie-break game with the queen sacrifice 50.Qh6+!!. Either way the queen is captured, there is mate on the next move: 50...Kxh6 51.Rh8#, or 50...gxh6 51.Rxf7#.


Other notable games

* In the Opera Game, Morphy gave his queen in a final sacrifice in order to mate. * In the Gold Coins Game, Marshall's final move placed the queen on a square where it could be captured by three different pieces, with any capture leading to victory (additionally, not taking the queen is also checkmate), triggering a shower of gold coins according to legend. * In a friendly game between
Edward Lasker Edward Lasker (born Eduard Lasker) (December 3, 1885 – March 25, 1981) was a German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author ...
and George Alan Thomas, Lasker found a celebrated queen sacrifice which initiated a king hunt, bringing the black king to White's first , where it was mated. * ''Philidor's Legacy'' refers to a
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 ...
involving a queen sacrifice. * In a whirlwind of tactics, Bent Larsen sacrificed his queen to defeat World Champion
Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vardani Petrosian (; ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster and the ninth World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing s ...
in 1966. * In a blitz chess24.com game played in 2020, Brazilian grandmaster Luis Paulo Supi used a queen sacrifice to defeat World Champion
Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
. The match was subsequently named "the Brazilian Immortal".


References


External links


"Queen Sacrifices" by Edward Winter
{{chess Chess tactics Chess terminology