I guess positional advantages was on my mind at the time, but I'd be interested in seeing sacrifices that lead to forced mate as well.

A simple one from U.S. championship qualifier in Tulsa last year.

http://www.wtharvey.com/us08.html

ctrl+f "Vedrickas" and you should find Tautvydas Vedrickas vs. Jerry Hanken

LOL. Good old Jerry Hanken. He has the most impressive rating graph I've ever seen.



You may think, well what's wrong with that? He just doesn't play much anymore. Wrong. He has ~200 rated tournaments between 1999 and now

Ratings floors.

They are a thing.

A thing of mystery.

A thing I do not understand.

Do you guys think Fischer's opponent intentionally sacrificed his queen, or did he just make a really stupid mistake? I don't get how he could fall for that; however, there's no way he gained any material nor positional edge. So what the hell?

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008376

That's just a horrible opening blunder that's pretty famous nowadays.

That is just a tactical position. Black's 8. .. Na5? was a blunder that Bxf7+ refuted. After 11. .. Kxe6??, for example, Qd5+ Kf5 g4+, with mate to follow is not much fun. And other ideas are no better. No sacrifices there, just a subtle blunder being masterfully exploited.

Wow I wish I knew where I kept all my old games, I mean we are talking like 6 or 7 years since I have done it. State championships, 5th round, vs the only other 4-0. Sacked her for a bishop, and ended up winning like 40 moves later with a pawn advantage. But I swear on my mothers life I saw every possible permutation (to the point where I would make up for it with a much better position) ahead of time. Pretty sure I thought about that move for around an hour with who knows how many other players crowded around the fkn table. The gasp when I did it was beautiful - the one when everyone realized what was going on a little later was even better.

Now that I am a little more well versed in chess its not as big of a deal as I thought, but I was like 14, had never done it before and succeeded, in a high pressure situation. I think I remember thinking to myself I was the next Fischer simply because the only time I had ever even HEARD of someone doing it before was in Searching for Bobby Fischer lolol. [x] naive

This game is very cool. I feel like he knew exactly how this would go starting at move 10.

whoops forgot to post the game...

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008397

A couple from my OTB games:

[White "Peterson"]
[Black "TimM"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8.
Nf3 O-O 9. Qd2 Qa5 10. Be2 Nc6 11. Rc1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Rd8 13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Qb2
Be6 15. Qb4 Qxa2 16. Qxe7 a5 17. Qc5 a4 18. Bf3 Bc4 19. Bd4 Qb2 20. Rd1 Qxc3+
21. Bxc3 Bxc3+ 22. Rd2 Bxd2+ 23. Kd1 Bb4+ 0-1

[White "TimM"]
[Black "Karen"]

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. Nf3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 Qa5 8.
O-O O-O 9. Bb3 d6 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. exd5 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 Bxd4 13. Qxd4 Qc5 14. Qh4
f6 15. Rfe1 Rf7 16. Re3 Bd7 17. Rae1 Re8 18. Ba4 g5 19. Bxd7 gxh4 20. Bxe8 Rg7
21. Bd7 h5 22. Rc3 Qa5 23. Bf5 Kf7 24. a3 Rg5 25. Be6+ Kg7 26. f4 Rxd5 27. Bxd5
Qxd5 28. Rxe7+ Kg6 29. h3 Qd4+ 30. Kh1 Qxf4 31. Re1 Qf2 32. Rg1 b5 33. Rc6 Qf4
34. Rd1 Qe5 35. b4 d5 36. Rc5 Qe4 37. Rcxd5 Qxc2 38. Rf1 Qc3 39. Rdf5 a6 40.
R5f3 Qd4 41. Re1 Qd7 42. Rc3 Qd2 43. Rec1 Kg5 44. Rc5+ f5 45. Rf1 Qd3 46. Ra1
Qd4 47. Re1 Qf2 48. Rec1 Qe3 49. R1c3 Qd2 50. Rc1 Qd3 51. R5c3 Qd2 52. Rc8 Qd5
53. R8c6 Qd2 54. Rf1 Qe2 55. Rg1 a5 56. bxa5 Qb2 57. Rc5 Qxa3 58. Rxb5 Qa4 59.
Rc5 Qb4 60. Rgc1 Qa3 61. R1c3 Qa1+ 62. Kh2 Qb2 63. Rf3 Qb8+ 64. Kg1 Qb1+ 65.
Rf1 Qd3 66. Rcxf5+ Kg6 67. Rf6+ Kg7 68. a6 Qd4+ 69. Kh1 1-0

I saw this one yesterday - i havent played chess for long, but I've learned when people leave material out for you like this, you're probably going to get checkmated soon

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1224674

There are even a few openings where queen sacrifices for compensation (no mate in sight) are part of known theory.

Here's an old example from my practice. White played 11. b4!




[Event "German Bundesliga"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1986.??.??"]
[Round ""]
[White "Gawehns, K."]
[Black "Seul, G."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A01"]
[WhiteElo "2365"]
[BlackElo "2235"]
[PlyCount "83"]

1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 d5 3. e3 g6 4. c4 Bg7 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. Nc3 Qd8 7. Nf3 O-O 8. d4
c5 9. dxc5 Qa5 10. a3 Rd8 11. b4 Rxd1+ 12. Rxd1 Qc7 13. Nb5 Qc6 14. Rd8+ Bf8
15. Nfd4 Qe4 16. Nc3 Qh4 17. g3 Qh5 18. Rxc8 e5 19. Ndb5 Qf3 20. Rg1 Qf5 21.
Nd6 Qc2 22. Nd1 Kg7 23. Ne8+ Nxe8 24. Rxe8 f6 25. Bg2 Qa4 26. Rxf8 Qd7 27. Rxb8
Rxb8 28. Nc3 Rd8 29. Bd5 Qf5 30. e4 Qf3 31. g4 Qd3 32. Rg3 Qc2 33. Nd1 Rxd5 34.
exd5 Qe4+ 35. Re3 Qxd5 36. g5 fxg5 37. Bxe5+ Kg8 38. Nc3 Qh1+ 39. Ke2 Qc1 40.
Ne4 h6 41. Nd6 Qh1 42. Bc3 1-0

Not a Queen sac until the end, but there were some crazy sacrifices in the "Immortal Game":

Was there a way for black to have played better against the Ivanchuk Queen sac?

Ponomariov tried the same line again against Shirov in Wijk 2003 but lost convincingly. This time Shirov did without d4 and just took on g7. This must be the best Black defense because I am very sure Shirov had analyzed the position very deeply after the first game.

Let me preface this by saying, I just finished a game where it was pretty much the first time I've ever played around with the Czech Benoni, which is an opening I'd like to mess with (and is recommended) as a low-theory opening vs 1. d4 - (I'm trying to finally learn new openings, just to get some variety in my games but I'm not memorizing 30 lines of theory like a Sicilian Dragon)

let me follow up by saying, 13...Kd8 is a MOUSE SCREWUP - I was supposed to castle Queenside -

further flusterations/screwups left me virtually dead except for a shot of counterplay which my opponent failed to take advantage of. Even after my counterplay faltered and I was driven to Kh4, he had a chance to finish me off but tried a fancy schamcy pin instead that was his undoing

When I got my tactical shot, I didn't think he'd let me have it, but he did - I saw it ahead of time and maybe sacrificed my queen for the first time that I can recall

[Event "Rated game, 15m + 0s"]
[Site "Main Playing Hall"]
[Date "2009.11.25"]
[Round "?"]
[White "1360 opponent"]
[Black "Whiskeytown"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A56"]
[WhiteElo "1354"]
[BlackElo "1451"]
[PlyCount "72"]
[EventDate "2009.11.25"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5 4. Nc3 d6 5. e4 Qa5 6. Bd2 Nbd7 7. Bd3 Be7 8. Nge2
Nf8 9. f4 exf4 10. Nxf4 Ng6 11. Nfe2 Ne5 12. Qc2 Bg4 13. O-O Kd8 14. Ng3 Nh5
15. Nf5 g6 16. Nxe7 Kxe7 17. Be2 Qa6 18. Nb5 Bxe2 19. Bg5+ Kf8 20. Qxe2 Kg7 21.
Nc7 Qb6 22. Nxa8 Rxa8 23. g4 f6 24. gxh5 fxg5 25. hxg6 Kxg6 26. Qf2 h6 27. Qf5+
Kh5 28. Qe6 Qxb2 29. Rae1 Qd4+ 30. Kh1 Nd3 31. Qf7+ Kh4 32. Rd1 Qxe4+ 33. Rf3
Nf4 34. Rdf1 Re8 35. Qg7 Qxf3+ 36. Rxf3 Re1+ 0-1

Heres a great one - white sacs the queen for two minors and a lot of positional compensation.
Spielmann - Moeller
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1006597

nice finish!

I don't think you were totally lost all the time earlier, it looks like 19...f6 wins a piece, he probably can't even get anything back on c7 because you take on c4. After that it gets kind of grim later, but with your wonderful knight on e5 and a way for your queen into the game you will always have some counter-chances if you don't get mated.

There is a somewhat interesting story behind this.
This line was considered harmless by theory when this game was played and the refutation had been published in the Russian chess magazin shackmaty (Incorrectly spelled.) which Reshevsky didnt read, but Fischer

One of my more favorite games...

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. O-O-O Be7 10. Rhe1 O-O 11. e5 dxe5 12. Qh4 Qa5 13. Rxe5 Qc7 14. Re3 Rac8 15. Bf4 Qa5 16. Be5 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Nd5 18. Rxd5 Qxc3 19. Rxc3 Bxh4 20. Rd7 Rxc3 21. Bxc3 Rd8 22. Rxd8 Bxd8 23. Bd4 Bc7 24. h3 a6 25. Kd2 f6 26. Kd3 Kf7 27. a4 Kg6 28. Ke2 Kf5 29. b4 b5 30. axb5 axb5 31. c4 bxc4 32. b5 e5 33. b6 Bb8 34. Be3 Ke6 35. Kd2 Kd5 36. Kc3 f5 37. Bg5 Kc6 38. Kxc4 Kxb6 39. Kd5 e4 40. fxe4 fxe4 41. Be3 Kb5 42. Bd4 g6 43. Kxe4 Kc6 44. Be5 Ba7 45. Bg3 Kd7 1/2-1/2

I have a more trivial Q sac, but I guess a "true one"

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Qd2 Nxe3 8. Qxe3 g6 9. 0-0-0 Bg7 10. Bc4 0-0 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Kb1 Qa5 13. f4 Rb8 14. Ka1 Be6 15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. Rd3 Rb6 17. Rhd1 Rfb8 18. Rb1 Ra6 19. a3 Qxa3+ 20. bxa3 Rxa3# 0-1

While they were interesting games, they don't really fit with what this thread was looking for. In the first game, there's no queen sac even -- just an excitingly tactical queen trade. In the second, you give away the queen for a forced mate in 2 (or 1 depending on how you read my sentence).

Of course, since I now say this, I'm guessing that I'll be wrong somehow and the first game really just features a declined queen sac and the second game isn't a forced mate in 2. My fingers will be crossed.

As I said, it was the best I have. A couple of hundred high level games and I never had a nice queen sac. Neither did any of my opponents.

Yeah it's kind of hard to have a positional queen sac. Any game of mine that I looked at the player who gave up the queen got enough material for it, or a quick mate, or quickly won the opponents queen in return.

Here is my first win against a 2100+:

[Date "1987.08.03"]
[White "Felber"]
[Black "TimM"]
[WhiteElo "2139"]
[BlackElo "1713"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Be3 Nc6 9. Nb3 Bd7 10. h3 Rc8 11. f4 a6 12. Qd2 Qc7 13. Rad1 Rfd8 14. Bd3 e6
15. Qf2 Qb8 16. f5 Ne5 17. fxg6 fxg6 18. Bg5 Rf8 19. Qh4 Qa7+ 20. Kh1 Nxd3 21.
cxd3 Rf7 22. Rf3 Rcf8 23. Rdf1 Nh5 24. Be3 Qxe3 25. Rxe3 Rxf1+ 26. Kh2 Be5+ 0-1

I think the psychology of that sacrifice is more interesting than the game or sac itself. For a 2500+ GM to miss 21. Qxf8+ is incredible. It can only really be attributed to some sort of bedazzlement as a result of the earlier queen sac. There's also the point of black even allowing that when 20. .. Rf5 does what he was trying to accomplish, but soundly.

I can only imagine the thoughts that must have been racing through their minds to distract them each so seriously from the game.