Van 't Kruijs Opening - BRILLIANT ROOK SACRIFICE!
#van'tkruijs #rooksacrifice #brilliant
This was a game where I was very proud of finding a brilliant rook sacrifice in the middle game, which then resulted in a completely winning position.
It started with my opponent playing the unusual Van 't Kruijs Opening (1. e3) and it was clear on the evaluation with them being in the 1200s that they must have studied the opening. They played the opening really well, using barely any time, and entered the beginning of the middlegame with a clear advantage of around [+1] to [+2].
White castled kingside late on move 20, and this was a blunder. However, I didn't see the tactic that allowed me to win one of White's bishops and a move later we were back at [0.00]. On move 23, White attacks my queen with (23. Be3), a seemingly developing move that wins tempo. Except for (23... Rxe3)! I sacrificed the rook, and it was rated a brilliant move [-8.3]. We played a few more moves, but with my queen and bishops all staring at the king now trapped on h1, I captured the win on move 28. GG!
The big takeaway from this game is to look out for and calculate potential sacrificial moves. Usually they won't work, but if you don't look for them, you'll never find the occasionally brilliant sacrifice.
Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/85300228905
