Introduction to Queen Sacs

Losing the queen is a horrible feeling. Almost always it means the loss of the game. But what about those times when losing the queen actually means winning the game!? As a beginner it's almost unfathomable without a little bit of help. I decided to put together a few queen sacrifices in ascending difficulty from very easy to very difficult! At first the queen sacrifices will be direct. As the problems progress you will have to begin setting up the queen sacrifices. Hopefully this will get your creative juices flowing for your own games. Someone once asked GM Mikhail Tal about his thought process on the board to which he half-jokingly replied, "First, how can I sacrifice my queen?"

All of these problems are white to move and will end with a definite checkmate. That's all I will say. After all, nobody will be there to tell you when checkmate is looming (let alone how many moves away it is).

I should mention that these problems along with several others (including those of different tactical methods) can be found in Fred Reinfeld's book "1001 Brilliant Ways To Mate". If you like these puzzles you should pick up a copy. Good luck!