The enigma of pawn sacrifice! {2 classical and a contemporary game}

"Chess is boundless only in the overall number of possible combinations of moves by White and Black. In any particular game, the number of real possibilities is much smaller. And the stronger the player, the more restricted his choice at each step, since too many possibilities for him are taboo - the results of their actions can easily be predicted as giving a negative result." - David Bronstein

....the number of real possibilities....and .....the stronger the player, the more restricted his choice....

Let me single out the above two assertions....as the comprehension of this is the real step forward towards great mastery and understanding of the game of chess!

What the expression, "lesser the real possibilities and choices" essentially mean is the process of condensation, crystallization.....

.....it is like condensation of a huge prose into a beautiful couplet.....poetry, which is impregnated with essence of what is pivotal.

One of the means.....device that the a master use is what is commonly known as 'sacrifice'.  A sacrifice, essentially narrows down the lane on two accounts: 

• it makes both players to divert their attention or converge their attention onto one point and its course
• and paradoxically, it opens out the position and myriads of possibilities which lay far beyond clear comprehension of human mind!

The great exponent of sacrificial play, "Rudolf Spielmann" explained a sacrifice thus, "Sacrifices represent in Chess an exceptionally important phase of the struggle. Beauty is not the sole object. Sacrificial play is much more dependent on personal qualities. That is why every great master goes his own particular way in this field; when it comes to sacrificing, there are many artists and many styles, all of them unique."

Stahlberg - Sultan Khan, Prague Olympiad, 1931

The great Indian is one of the most unique player, who with little experience and absolutely no knowledge of the then existing Chess knowledge, casted magical spell on his unsuspecting opponents and the toll included the great Cuban (one of his 36 loses of Capablanca was to this 'Indian amature' who was a servant of Malik Umar Hayat Khan Tiwana and played Chess for fun).

Having misplayed the Nimzo Indian, Sultan Khan landed in this dire position and was struggling to get his favourite Knights hopping, if not galloping as he would love to, again!

Meanwhile, Stahlberg must have been dreaming of a facile victory, basking on his proud centre which is strangulating Black and the two teeming Bishops are waiting for the King to land on that part of the board.....

....when, the mystic Indian pushed......

9.....b5!!

"A desperation and startling remedy" cried R.N.Coles.  

Stahlberg's eyes must have popped out on seeing this move on board!

The simple unpretentious idea of Sultan Khan was to find a square for his Knight on e7 and allow the other Knight to be reborn (he went back to g8 on move 6!) on that square......and this pawn on the other corner is worth for this enterprise!

10.cb5 Nd5! 11.OO Nge7; 12.a3 Ba5!

Under normal circumstances, Sultan Khan would have traded this Bishop for the Knight. But he would have refrained from this in this position as, it un-doubles the pawn and most importantly will destabilise the 'd5-post' with a subsequent c4.

13.Bg5 h6 14.Be7 Ne7!

Of course, he cannot part with his Knight! And a chance to trade the other Bishop with the Knight on f3, if allowed!

15.Be4 c6!

A fine move, which paradoxically un-doubles White's pawn creates a backward isolated pawn blocking his own Bishop, gives White Knight an alternate post on c5!  But......

.....it retains the piece, not allows White Knight to hop to d6 via e4 and most importantly secures the d5 square firmly!

16.bc6 dc6; 17.Na4 OO; 18.Nc5 Rb8?!

It requires immensely deep positional knowledge or immense naivety to play this move. 

19.b4 Bb6; 20.Nb7 Rb7; 21.b5

Of course, 21.Bc6 Rc7; 22.b5 Nc6; 23.bc6 Qd5 frees Black right away!

21.....Rc7; 22.bc6 Qc8; 23.Rfc1 f5!?

Another move which adds fuel to fire....the purpose of which is to deny active squares for White's pieces!

The game ended in a draw in 10 moves from now, but I cut it here as the purpose of me quoting this game is fulfilled!



The second classical example is.....

Victor Kortchnoi - Leonid Stein, Tallinn, 1965

 The untimely death of this great player.....Stein, is a great misfortune to Chess world.  On hearing his death, Fischer sent a telegram expressing his condolence....and this is not trivial..knowing Bobby....along with Tal and Bronstein, Fischer perhaps had high regards for Stein too.

When asked about Spassky's chances against Fischer, Stein replied: "Fischer is a materialist but Spassky is an artist"....and this assertion is as complex as......the move that he played against another great "materialist".....

13......b5!!

This.....as many would assume, was not made to open the b-file. Rather, it was made to deflect the Knight from its influence on the 'e4' square......and to.....

14.Nb5

If 14.cb5 a6! would follow, in the spirit of Benko!

14.....Ba6! 15.Na3 Rb8; 16.g3 N4h5; 17.b3 Bb7!

The Bishop returns to a more meaningful diagonal, after having choo'd the Knight to a wrong place!

18.Nb1 c6!

Another difficult move to make....a second pawn offer....and it is not over yet!!

19.dc6 Bc6; 20.Qd6 Qe8! 21.Re1 

The 'materialist' on the prowl!

21.....Rf7!

....and the artist continues unperturbed!!

22.Bd2 Bf8! 23.Qd2

Of course, e5 pawn is taboo!

23.....e4!!

Reminiscent of Gligoric's ....e4 and ....f3 against Kotov in Zurich, 1953!

The third pawn sacrifice by the incorrigible optimist and even the incorrigible materialist could not bear to gobble it....and played....

24.Qc3?! 

.....allowing Black pieces to make inroads and Kortchnoi had to give up his Queen and subsequently the game in 20 more moves.


Don't ask "what if" for the choices made.....like Zen Koans and Questions, which neither presupposes nor demands an answer....and what is said was merely to fill the moment and dispel the explanation....in Chess too, most of the decisions made on the board defy explanation and analysis.

What is done subsequently under the garb of post mortem is a poor decoding of the blissful choices which came out of every pregnant moment!


Now for a modern moment!

Frode Urkedal - Krishnan Sasikiran, Rilton Cup, 2016

Krishnan Sasikiran is well known for his firebrand Chess and very intense fighting qualities!

In the following position...a seldom seen combat with two Knights against two Bishops, Sasi played.....

.....by the way......White's last move 27.bc5 uncovered the Rook on b3's path to b7.....and Sasi just ignored the threat and took his Queen for a stroll with......

27.....Qe6!

A fine move which eyes on the light squares around White King and to maximise the action of his Knights.  Sasi will subsequently ignore his other pawn on a6 too in his quest for the light squares.

As we saw in the example of Korchnoi - Stein, such moves cannot be weighed on the materialistic scale and it belongs to the realms where more than explanation, the impact made on the moment of its making weighs more!

28.Rb7 Qf5; 29.Ba5 Rb8! 

Another fine decision.....the Rooks no longer has value for Black and he ensures that they go off the board! One Rook will remain for some time to protect a key pawn on c6 and pose pseudo threat of invasion on the h-file.....and go off the board subsequently.

30.Qb1 Rb7; 31.Qb7 Nf3; 32.Bf3 ef3; 33.Qa6 Re6; 34.Qf1 g5; 35.Rb1 Ne4; 36.Rb1 Kh7; 37.Qb1 Qh3; 38.Qf1 Qh5; 39.h3 f5! 40.Rf8 g4; 41.h4 Re8!

.....and Black won the game by making 18 of his next 20 moves on the light squares! In fact barring a few moves, most of the moves by Sasikiran, after the pawn sacrifice, happened on light squares! That is colossal triumph of light squares!

.....all the while, White's Bishop remained a mere spectator!


The common denominator for all the three games shown above and the countless examples that lay stored in the history of Chess, is the ability of human mind to letgo, conceive such an abstract idea and deal with its complexities and lack of clarity by way of showing courage and strong nerves.....and of course, acceptance!

Such players walk on knife edge and cannot afford to shake or look for clarity....for such moves stand on the pedestal of human limitations and the true understanding that such operations defy clarity and thorough analysis.....and just to live the moment.....

.....and allow....the opponent to play!