Blogs
3 Check Tactics to Know: Typical Knight Sacrifices

3 Check Tactics to Know: Typical Knight Sacrifices

Avatar of TenThousandDays
TenThousandDays
| 11

A Knight Sacrifice on c7/c2

This kind of Knight sacrifice is very common, but most of the time it's wrong! Why is this the case? The reason is that most of the time when players go for this sacrifice they have to invest too many moves to get it and in the meantime their opponent is able to gain a huge lead in development. Also, in general pieces are worth more than a single check anyway.

So when is this sacrifice acceptable? It's ok to go for this sacrifice if at least one of the following things is true:

1) Your opponent has to waste time or make concessions in their position as a result of your Knight invasion.

2) You can make follow-up threats.

3) Your Knight has no good future prospects anyway and you might as well get a check for it.

Here is an examples of when this sacrifice is good:

For some examples of when this sacrifice is bad you can read my blog post below:
How Much Is A Check Worth In 3 Check?

A Knight Sacrifice on f6/f3

This sacrifice can be a very strong way to rip open a castled King position. 

A Knight Sacrifice on f7/f2
You have to be a little bit careful when going for this sacrifice because the player on the receiving end often has unexpected defensive resources or ways to make a quick counter attack. You should never assume that your opponent has to take your Knight. Very often Qh4/Qh5 or Qf6/Qf3 is a strong reply.

As you can see, the Nxf7 sacrifice was winning, but Black was able to put up a lot of resistance with the typical Qh4 defensive resource. There were many opportunities for me to have gone wrong.
A Knight Sacrifice on e6/e3
This sacrifice often presents itself after Black tries to defend against the threat of a Knight sacrifice on f7. 
For more examples of Knight sacrifices on f7 and e6 you can read my blog post below:

A Knight Sacrifice to Open a File

In 3 Check Opening Ideas For Black In the French Sicilian: Part 2 (5. Nb5), I showed how Black can sacrifice their Kingside Knight in exchange for the open g-file and strong central control. Here is another way you can sacrifice a Knight in order to open a file:

A Knight Sacrifice to Break Through the Center

Here are 2 examples where I sacrificed a Knight in order to open lines in the center and exploit the fact that my opponent's King never castled:

Are there any Knight sacrifices that I left out? Have you won a nice game using a Knight sacrifice? Let me know in the comments!