Sacrifice To Win

Oops! Two queens! I will fix that. 

I am going to set tactics trainer to 1300 - 1400 unrated and see if I can find and solve a few harder sacrifice puzzles. I'll post what I find. Who knows, maybe I can solve some 1600 rated problems. It's worth a try.

I've won queens in a couple games that way.

I look forward to doing the same, especially after knowing this puzzle quite well after fixing the double queen error!

Is this type of bishop sacrifice, checking the king, a common tactical theme for winning material? I usually see a bishop sacrifice done not to win material, but to break up the enemy castle, exposing the king to checks and mate.

 Probably more so at my very low level than higher up.

For me #7 is easier than #1. I mean, I can see the mate right away in #7 (isn't that too easy??), but in #1 I cannot see the mate, I just follow a sound sacrifice without seeing the end. I just know it is the best move and it will win, mate or not.

May be if I tried harder I would have seen the mate, but it is my practice to think/calculate only when necessary.

Puzzle 10 is rated at 1350.  I'm going to track down even harder ones, all the way up to 1600+ !  

I believe this is a deflection puzzle, with maybe no clearance sacrifice. What would you call it?

Thank you. Deflection it is.

The first deflection puzzle was quite clever. I'm starting to see reoccurring tactical themes. It feels good.  

I first looked at White's knight, which had no pawn as a defender. Could it be a loose/hanging piece on the board,  especially with an exposed king and the only defender of this knight being the most important piece, the queen?! My tactical antennae went into high alert! 

I gotta investigate CT-Art. You have talked about it before, and I think you use it. Which product would you suggest I check out?

Puzzle 11 was difficult for me, as it was rated at 1545! The theme of this topic is sacrifice to win. Even though this not a sacrifice puzzle, it looks like a sacrifice, at the start, from a beginning chess players perspective.

I'd be quite happy to find this winning continuation in a real game!

That's all I needed to hear. With the tactics trainer here and at chess tempo, along with my tactics books, I have plenty to keep me busy for a long time.

"Sacrificing material for some advantage or even a win is not intuitive for a beginner - me!" - Musikamole

It is also not intuitive for this beginner to consider a move that appears to be a sacrifice at first, but is really a deflection, which wins material at the conclusion of the exchange.

All of the puzzles with be titled STW (Sacrifice To Win), with this broader idea of sacrifice in mind, from the classic bishop sacrifice, to a deflection, to other types of tactics that look like sacrifices. 

Problem Rating: 1408

This one took too long to see. Arg!

I get these puzzles a lot and saw the winning move right away.

A good tactical motiff to know.

I did not get this one right, only finding mate in 3. 

Click on move list to see the second mate in 2 variation.

What about the rook in the second movement?

Which puzzle number?

Click on move list for a more stubborn defense.

I created this puzzle from a miniature that our chess.com member Ziryab won by seeing the right tactic at the perfect time. He knows a bazillion of these.

http://blog.chess.com/Ziryab/nutty-play

Click on move list for a more stubborn defense.

Sacrifice

A sacrifice is a move where the player deliberately loses a piece to gain advantage in subsequent moves. Tactical sacrifices usually result in an imminent material gain. Sacrifices are often used in combination with other tactical motifs.

Hey, RAGE, memory and knowledge are the same thing! GOOD ONYA! SLOW DOWN, LEARN.. AND YOU HAVE IT FOR LIFE! LOOK UP TAJ MAHAL 'I WAS BUILD FOR COMFORT...I AINT BUILT FOR SPEED' AND CRUZ!!