Do not be afraid to sacrifice

Today, I'll talk about one of the most exciting but mysterious parts of chess; Sacrifices.

Beginner players usually are afraid of sacrificing because most beginner chess players are usually more aware of material than tactics. In fact, even people that are not beginners are more aware of material. But sacrificing can lead to winning material or even winning the game. Take this puzzle for example:

Some people might not see the checkmate route (sacrifice checkmate route) here, as the rook sacrifice here opens up the vulnerable a6-c8 diagonal (or could be the a-file, depending which pawn black eats it with) gets opened up that leads right into checkmate.

P.S. I changed my puzzle because the first one didn't need sacrificing for checkmate

Here's a memorable game from Aron Nimzowitsch versus Arthur Hakansson, in which Nimzowitsch sacrificed his queen to perform a semi-smothered mate: (Nimzowitsch is White, Hakansson is Black)

Here's an amusing game in which it was Joerg Reinisch versus Karel Traxler, and in this game, at the final few moves, Traxler "tossed around" Reinisch, by giving him a lot of pieces (a queen, 2 knights, and 2 pawns. wow!) to lure him to a mating net, and then making a final sacrifice for checkmate. (Reinsch is White, Traxler is Black)

So the conclusion of this blog post is to Not be afraid to sacrifice, if it is for material or the win.

Always keep this in mind people!

P.S. Do you really have to criticize other's posts @theottt