Wait. The King of Simplicity Sacrifices His Rook (twice)?!
It is the year 1933, and Jose Raul Capablanca, one of the best chess players of all time, is playing Herman Steiner, a strong IM in Los Angeles. Capablanca is known mainly for excelling in simple positions and endgames, as well as an expert in the art of defending even the most lethal attacks and converting them into winning positions. However, this is a game where Capablanca goes out of his comfort zone by sacrificing multiple pieces to lead to a vicious checkmate.
You can view the game here, although I would, as always, suggest further analysis into these types of complicated positions. Capablanca has the white pieces, and Steiner with the black. The game is a very boring symmetrical Four Knights. I don't believe we need to go into much detail here, since this is one of the most standard openings in existence. On move 7, black takes the white knight on c3 with the bishop, hoping to ruin the pawn structure. In the Four Knights, this is a common theme, since white will often transfer the knight to g3 and then to f5 (a very nice outpost) if black is hesitant to capture. On move 10, black makes a minor inaccuracy by playing Be6, trying to trade off the bishops. White can simply take the knight with the bishop on f6, followed by trading the bishops on e6, and despite black having many central pawns that are about to start marching up the board, black's open king gives white an advantage.
Capablanca starts his crazy attack by playing Qg4+ followed by f4, attempting to completely rip open the position and target the weak king, who is stuck vulnerable in the middle of the board. Here, Steiner makes the first mistake, by trying to attack the queen with Rg4. However, the queen can sidestep this attack with Qh5+. After the king moves to g7, Capablanca plays fxe5 with the obvious intent of trying to open up the rook. Steiner plays Dxe5, not wanting to open up white's f rook any more than it already is. Now, the BRILLIANT MOVE by Capablanca, Rxf6! Knowing that if Kg7, then Rf7+ followed by Qe5 checkmate! So the black knight must sacrifice itself in order for the king to stay alive, by playing Nf5. Capablanca here makes a surprising move. Why not just take the knight with the pawn? I don't know Capablanca's intentions, but he takes the knight with his own knight, completely declining a free piece... The only reasonable explanation could be that Capablanca really liked his pawn on e4, to the point where he realized it could play an important role in a checkmate that is to come soon.
Nevertheless, after more checking in which the king is drawn further up the board and out of safety, he ends up on d6. On move 22, white plays Rf6+, to which black replies Kc5, which is a horrible mistake. Capablanca first grabs a pawn on b7, and after black plays Qb6, trying to trade queens, white plays an amazing move Rxc6! Knowing that if the rook is taken by the queen, then white will play Qb4 checkmate!
Steiner could have played Kb5+, the only way to escape harm temporarily. Kb5 reveals the black queen on b6 with check. If this was played, Capablanca would have taken the queen with his rook on c6, and would have entered a middlegame/endgame where he has a queen and three pawns for two rooks. Even though black still has a glimmer of hope, Capablanca has an advantage in material, his queen is very active and the black king is very unsafe. Because of these reasons, it is clear that Capablanca has a clear advantage, and computer agrees with a favorable evaluation in this position (+4.51). However, Steiner takes the rook on c6 with the queen, and Capablanca delivers checkmate on b4 by Capablanca.
Ok, I will admit that this wasn't the most climactic and exciting games of all time, but it shows how material equality does not matter in a strong attack. If you feel that you can possibly checkmate your opponent or at least gain a significant advantage, first calculate to see if it works, and if it does, then go for it! Do not worry too much about material unless you feel you don't have enough of a veritable attack to justify your actions.
My annotations for this game are below. I was a little bit busy this week, as a lot of things are coming to a close as summer approaches, so please pardon me for not picking the most exciting game ever. I will be back next week with a cooler game! 
