Offer A Pyrrhic Victory And Win The Game

Have you played a game when the opponent offered you a surprising sacrifice, and you took it and lost the game? You just succumbed to the legacy of King Pyrrhus. Here’s what you need to know to avoid such an experience again (or to trick an opponent):

• What Is A Pyrrhic Victory?
• Does Pyrrhic Victory Occur In Chess?
• Examples of Pyrrhic Victory in Chess
• How Did Pyrrhic Victory Get Its Name?
• Other Examples of Pyrrhic Victories
• Fair Warning

What Is A Pyrrhic Victory?

A Pyrrhic victory is a triumph that comes at such great cost that it loses all its worth. It is a victory not worth achieving because it cost so much to accomplish.

Does Pyrrhic Victory Occur In Chess?

The game of chess is ripe with Pyrrhic victories. Without doubt, each one of us has won an exchange or captured a piece that gave an opponent enough tempo to place us in a mating net. How often do they occur? Even among the top levels of chess, they happen more often than you might imagine.

Examples of Pyrrhic Victory in Chess

Just two days ago in the rapid section of the 2025 SuperUnited Croatia Rapid & Blitz, GM Fabiano Caruana lured GM Ivan Saric into a devilish trap. With the sequence 18...e4? 19.fxe4 Nxe4 20.Nxe4!!, White invited Black to win an exchange, but it was a Pyrrhic victory for Saric. He did win a rook after Nxe4, but Caruana called Black’s position “just resignable” because all of Saric’s “pieces are out of the game,” particularly with the queen on the sideline.

In game seven of the World Chess Championship in 2018, GM Magnus Carlsen succeeded in placing his knight on d6, but it took 32 moves to do so. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave commented that Carlsen “likes these positions until he sucks the life out of them.”

The Chess.com report termed Carlsen’s success to be a Pyrrhic victory because he “needed to trade everything else to do so” and it resulted in a “non-advantage.” By that move, the game was a hopeless draw; each side had just one minor piece remaining with six pawns after the queens had been traded. Although Carlsen didn’t suffer unbearable losses typical of a Pyrrhic victory, his effort was futile. Here’s the game:

How Did Pyrrhic Victory Get Its Name?

The word comes from the name Pyrrhus (born 319 BCE), a Greek king who was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome and is considered one of the greatest generals of antiquity. The term Pyrrhic victory originates from Pyrrhus’s victory in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BCE when Rome lost 6,000 soldiers. Pyrrhus lost just 3,000, but they were unacceptably heavy losses.

Although the Romans suffered more casualties, their losses were less severe given the larger size of their army. Pyrrhus’s inability to continue the attack helped to guarantee the security of Rome. About this victory, Pyrrhus famously said: “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.”

Other Examples of Pyrrhic Victories

After Napoleon had invaded Russia in 1812, he was victorious at the Battle of Borodino and subsequently occupied Moscow. However, the Russian government refused to come to terms with him, and when he completed his retreat, his army had lost 80 percent of its strength.

Similar examples occur in sports. When a team loses its most valuable player to a season-ending injury in a win over an archrival, a loss may limit its ability to succeed in the future.

Fair Warning

When an opponent seemingly leaves a piece unprotected, beware. You may be ready to gain a Pyrrhic victory but lose the game.