A Historic Rook Sacrifice

In ordinary circumstances, the gain of time and superiority in development sufficiently influences the position to counterbalance the loss of material. General principles, however, do not apply to most specific positions, particulary those involving exchanges of tangibles for intangibles. It is a rare case, indeed, where a single tempo is worth a Rook: a Rook that can be taken with check! In the game below, we see this very curiosity. Soviet legend Boris Spassky (photo) performs one of the deepest Rook sacrifices ever conceived in the history of chess, against famous Grandmaster David Bronstein in Moscow in 1960.