Exchange Sacrifices

Sacrificing to Restrict Your Opponent

Space is a very important positional factor, and after an exchange sarifice the scope of the rooks often becomes markedly less than that of the minor pieces.

Chess Combinations

f2 (f7) combinations

Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament 2011

photo by www.chessbase.com



Game of the day (Blindfold) Round 5

Exchange Sacrifices

The greatest master of the intuitive positional exchange sacrifice was world champion Tigran Petrosian.

Sacrificing for Blockade

As define by Nimzowitch, the blockade is an independent strategic mechanism with the aim of activating one's piece under the cover of the opponent's
pawns and to create pressure on the enemy position both in the center, and on the flanks.

Exchange Sacrifices

Positional exchange sacrifices constitute a very complex positional device which demands a well-developed feel for the initiative. they are usually aimed at the activation of one's pieces and pawns, as well as bringing out their power and exploiting weaknesses in the opponent's position. Of course, there is also a simplier version of the exchange sacrifice, one which is directed at attacking the enemy king using, for example, the weakness of a particular colour complex of squares, but we will not touching upon this subject here. In this topic we shall investigate several different kinds of intuitive exchange sacrifices.

Sacrificing for Centralization

Piece coordination in the center of the board creates possibilities for seizing space, constricting the opponent's piece, and switching to an attack on the king. The following game features an example.

Chess Combinations

h3 (h6) combinations

Chess Combinations

g3 (g6) combinations

Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament 2011

An early sign of his ability came when he won the 1994 World Youth Chess Championship (under-12) in Szeged with 8/9, ahead of future luminaries Étienne Bacrot, Ruslan Ponomariov, Francisco Vallejo Pons and Alexander Grischuk. Aronian broke the 2800 rating barrier in the November 2010 FIDE world ranking with a rating of 2801. He is only the sixth player to cross the 2800 rating mark, joining Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, and Magnus Carlsen.
In November 2010, he finished shared first at the category XXI Tal Memorial. Following this tournament, he competed in the World Blitz Championship in Moscow, where he scored 24.5/38 to win the title ahead of Teimour Radjabov and defending champion Magnus Carlsen; Aronian clinched the title with a round to spare

Game of the day (Rapid) Round 4


REPORTS/PGN (Blindfold)


REPORTS/PGN (Rapid)

Chess Combinations

Attacking the enemy king is one of the most exciting parts of chess, but it is also one of the hardest to play accurately. Every chess player has had the experience of seeing a promising-looking attack crumble into dust, whereupon the enemy counter-attack sweeps aside everything in its path. - JOHN NUNN

There are numerous books available that feature spectacular combinations involving one sacrifice after another. I want to share with you my collection 600 miniature games, these examples are indeed entertaining and can be quite instructive, and to begin with let's start with f3 (f6) combination. hope you enjoy it!

1. f3 (f6) combinations (100 games)
2. g3 (g6) combinations (100 games)
3. h3 (h6) combinations (100 games)
4. f2 (f7) combinations (100 games)
5. g2 (g7) combinations (100 games)
6. h2 (h7) combinations (100 games)

Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament 2011

Game of the Day (Rapid) Round 3


REPORTS/PGN (Blindfold)


REPORTS/PGN (Rapid)

Amber Blindfold and Rapid Tournament 2011

Game of the Day (Rapid) Round 2


REPORTS/PGN (Blindfold)


REPORTS/PGN (Rapid)

20th Amber Tournament (Blindfold and Rapid) 2011

20th Amber Tournament (Blindfold) (Game of the Day)




REPORTS/PGN (Blindfold)



REPORTS/PGN (Rapid)