Queen Sacrifice
Sacrificing a piece is something that must be carefully calculated and executed, and a queen sacrifice is no exception. In this blogpost, we’ll take a look at some examples of queen sacrifices.
The below position is for white to play. Try to find the best move for white.
If you said Nxe5, that would be correct! At first glance, it may look like a blunder, as black can play Bxd1, winning a queen. However, this move costs black the game; white can respond with Bxf7+, to which black’s only move is Ke7. Now, white can checkmate by playing Nd5#.
This specific checkmating pattern is known as Légal’s mate. The pattern, as shown above, is a brilliant queen sacrifice followed by a beautiful checkmate using just three minor pieces.
Let’s take a look at another example. It’s black to play in this position.
If you said Qxd3, that would be correct! Why does this sacrifice work? After Qxd3+, white has two options: Bd2 and cxd3.
If Bd2, black can play Qxd2#. If cxd3, black can elegantly finish the game with Bb3#.
Now that you understand how a queen sacrifice can be done, take a look at this iconic game between Nezhmetdinov and Chernikov in 1962 that contains a brilliant queen sacrifice. This queen sacrifice is a little different from the examples above because a significant advantage for white isn’t immediately apparent. In fact, if black plays exf6 in response to Qxf6 on move 12, the advantage for white is small, but for players like Nezhmetdinov, that slight advantage can make all the difference.
Author: Saharsh Satheesh
