Queen sacrifice

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Queen sacrifice is the term used in chess when a player's queen (the most powerful piece) is deliberately sacrificed (allowed to be captured by the enemy without recapturing the enemy queen in return). A queen is too valuable to sacrifice for mere positional gain, unlike a pawn, or even a knight or bishop (although there are rare exceptions—see fortress for an example).

In The Art of Sacrifice Rudolf Spielmann distinguishes between real and sham sacrifices. In a sham sacrifice the sacrifice leads to a forced and immediate benefit for the sacrificer, usually in the form of a quick checkmate (or perpetual check or stalemate if seeking a draw), or the recouping of the sacrificed material after a forced variation. Since any amount of material can be sacrificed as long as checkmate can be achieved, the queen is not in any way above being sacrificed as part of a combination.

Possible reasons to make such a sacrifice include:

  • A forced checkmate after the opponent captures the queen
  • More than adequate material compensation (say, a rook and two knights) after a forced continuation
  • Clearing the way for a pawn's promotion to a replacement queen, or
  • The subsequent capture of the opponent's queen, resulting in some positional or material gain.

On the other hand, "real" sacrifices are, according to Spielmann, those where the compensation is not immediate, but more positional in nature. Since the queen is so powerful, positional sacrifices of the queen virtually always entail some partial material compensation, for example sacrificing the queen for a rook and bishop.

Note that the queen, unlike the king, is not above being traded off for other pieces which may together be of equal or greater value than the queen. Bent Larsen has remarked [1] that giving up the queen for rook and two minor pieces is sometimes called a "queen sacrifice", but since a rook plus two minor pieces is more valuable than the queen, he calls this nonsense.

[edit] Examples

Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 rd b8 c8 bd d8 e8 kd f8 bd g8 h8 rd Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 pd b7 pd c7 pd d7 e7 f7 pd g7 h7 pd
a6 b6 c6 nd d6 e6 f6 g6 h6
a5 b5 bl c5 d5 pd e5 pl f5 g5 pd h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 pl e4 nd f4 pd g4 h4 qd
a3 b3 c3 pl d3 e3 f3 ql g3 h3
a2 pl b2 pl c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 pl h2 pl
a1 rl b1 nl c1 bl d1 e1 f1 kl g1 nl h1 rl
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Rudolf Spielmann-Jorgen Moeller. White to make his 9th move
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 rd b8 c8 d8 kd e8 f8 bd g8 h8 rd Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 pd b7 pd c7 pd d7 e7 f7 pd g7 h7 pd
a6 b6 c6 nd d6 e6 f6 nl g6 h6 qd
a5 b5 bl c5 d5 pd e5 pl f5 g5 pd h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 pl e4 f4 pd g4 h4 pl
a3 b3 c3 pl d3 e3 f3 nl g3 h3
a2 pl b2 pl c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 pl h2
a1 rl b1 c1 bl d1 e1 f1 kl g1 h1 rl
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Rudolf Spielmann-Jorgen Moeller. After 13.h4
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 f8 ql g8 h8 Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 kd b7 pd c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 h7
a6 pd b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 h6
a5 pl b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 pd d4 e4 pd f4 g4 h4
a3 b3 c3 d3 e3 qd f3 g3 h3
a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2
a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 f1 g1 h1 kl
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Pilnik-Reshevsky, 1942. White saves the draw with the queen sacrifice Qf2.


  • Two celebrated games by Adolf Anderssen, the Immortal game and the Evergreen game, both featured a queen sacrifice as part of White's final mating attack.
  • In the Opera game, Morphy's final blow is a deflection sacrifice of the queen.
  • In a friendly game Edward Lasker played against George Alan Thomas, Lasker found a celebrated queen sacrifice which forced the Black king on a march to White's first rank where it was checkmated.
  • Philidor's Legacy is a smothered mate involving a queen sacrifice.
  • For an example of a successful positional queen sacrifice, Rudolf Spielmann presented his game against Jorgen Moeller in Gothenburg 1920. In the first diagram, White is threatened with 9...Bg4 which wins the queen since she must guard the f2 square against checkmate. Spielmann allowed Black to win the queen by playing 9.Nd2, 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 the queen (and is also a pawn down), but White's minor pieces are very active and the Black queen is out of play. White won on move 28. [2]
  • Queen sacrifices can sometimes be used as a drawing resource, in the third diagram Pilnik (White) is defending an endgame three pawns down, but played Qf2!, when Reshevsky (Black) has nothing better than ...Qxf2 stalemate.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bent Larsen. Lærebok i sjakk.  (Norwegian)
  2. ^ The full game can be played through here The game was annotated by Spielmann in The Art of Sacrifice in Chess.
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