Chess lessons › Chess strategy
The positional sacrifice
Give a pawn or a piece for something that lasts, such as open files or active pieces, with no forced win back.
The idea
Give a pawn or piece for lasting gains, with no forced win back.
- The bishop on a6 attacks the pawn on e2.
- No black pawn stands on the b-file, so a black rook there can attack b2.
- Four white pieces guard e2, so the pawn is safe for now.
In a game: Name what you get that lasts: open files, active pieces, a safe square.
How the lesson begins
A positional sacrifice gives up a pawn or a piece, and unlike a combination it does not win the material back by force. What it buys has to last: open lines, active pieces, a square the enemy cannot take. In the Benko Gambit Black offers a pawn on move three. Step through the first moves.
- 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 White pushes past the pawn on c5.
- 3... b5 Black offers a pawn.
- 4. cxb5 White takes it.
- 4... a6 5. bxa6 White takes a second pawn.
- 5... Bxa6 The bishop takes a pawn back. Black is a pawn down, and has no pawns on the a-file or the b-file.
A question
White to move. White is a pawn up, but the engine puts White ahead by less than a pawn. What does Black get for the pawn?
Show the answer
Two files with no black pawns on them, and a bishop on a6 aimed at e2.
Right. Black’s rooks can use the a-file and the b-file, and the bishop on a6 attacks the pawn on e2. Black has no quick attack, but these things last.