Was this sacrafice sound?

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Avatar of Frankdawg

Avatar of nola2172

On move 22, I think white should probably play an immediate Ng3 and follow quickly with Bd1 to flush out your bishop.  In that case, I think the defense should hold, making the sacrifice unsound.

Avatar of Shivsky

I don' think so ... but your position was not good prior to the sac so it was worth getting a little creative.

When I look at sacrifices (no concrete forcing lines to calculate for a win), I tend to weigh how complicated it gets for my opponent and how easy it is for him to refute it.

In your case, after Kxg2 Rg8+,  white is still doing great, but has to 

a) Avoid letting your queen through by moving the well placed knight

b) Prepare a move like Bd1 to deal with your h5 bishop and support White's weak kingside.

He failed on both counts and was punished ... but quite sure a stronger opponent would have diligently done a) and b) .

Avatar of ralphsnider

6.....Be6 is bad as if he takes then your pawns are doubled and if you castle k side then the pawn defence is compromised

18....why swap off your good N for his bad one; try R to semi open file to attack the K

Avatar of Frankdawg
ralphsnider wrote:

6.....Be6 is bad as if he takes then your pawns are doubled and if you castle k side then the pawn defence is compromised

18....why swap off your good N for his bad one; try R to semi open file to attack the K


6... Doubled D pawns is not really all that bad, and can actually be a strength. If I castled kingside after that yes, I'm missing 1 pawn from the 3 in front of my king, but it is the best one to be missing, the one that opens up a a file for the rook so it is a strength.

18... it was in close proximity to his king, and I had that half open file facing his king clearing off a piece or 2 might help in my attack

Avatar of ralphsnider

6....doubled pawns in front of your king significantly weakens your K safety

 

18.....saying 'clearing off a piece or 2 might help in my attack' is not concrete enough as you have no real plan. When attacking you want to avoid exchanges.

Avatar of Hypocrism
ralphsnider wrote:

6....doubled pawns in front of your king significantly weakens your K safety

 

18.....saying 'clearing off a piece or 2 might help in my attack' is not concrete enough as you have no real plan. When attacking you want to avoid exchanges.


The doubled D pawns help black control the centre, are not weak and do not compromise king safety.

 

But I don't think the exchange that gave you doubled, isolated pawns (14...) was a good one. You had no initiative and just created three weaknesses.

Avatar of khpa21

Here's a weak player's take on what happened in this game.