Back to Basics
Preparing the Classic Bishop Sacrifice
Know your goal and be persistent—but not rigid—in pursuing it.
By GM Lev Alburt
The winner of this month’s award,
Andrew Liu, provided us with a well-written story, complete with diagrams,
subtitles, and summary. (My own comments will be in italics). Writes Andrew:
Dear GM Alburt, My name is Andrew
Liu and I just turned 11. I’m from San
Diego, California. This game was very
exciting for me because I won with the
classic bishop sacrifice. My chess coach
Mario Amodeo introduced me to this fascinating pattern a few months ago using
your 1996 column in Chess Life. I learned
a lot from this game after analyzing it
with my coach and on my computer (Houdini chess engine). I hope it will be an
encouragement to other young players.
Slav Defense,
Exchange Variation (D13)
Andrew Liu (869)
Bob Carnall (1565)
Allante 8 (Pinin America Chess Club),
12/15/11 (4), G/120, d5
Stage 1: Positioning for the
Classic Bishop Sacrifice
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5.
Nc3 e6 6. e3 Bb4 7. Bb5+? Bd7 8. Bd3
rsn-wqk+-tr
zpp+l+pzpp
-+-+psn-+
+-+p+-+-vl-zP-+-+
+-sNLzPN+PzP-+-zPPzP
tR-vLQmK-+R
After 8. Bd3
The game started with the Queen’s
Gambit/Slav Exchange. I had many
bishop “sac” opportunities before with
this opening. I was very focused on prepar44
Chess Life — July 2012
ing for the bishop sac from the opening.
That’s why I didn’t bring my dark square
bishop out of the pawn chain before playing 6. e3. This bishop supports the later
Ng5+ move. Bringing it out early would
risk getting traded off. Although my plan
worked this time, I should have been more
flexible with my plan and not bank everything on the sac. As you will see later on,
Black can easily prevent the sac if he is
aware of the plan. I wasted a tempo in 7.
Bb5+. I was playing “hope” chess trying to
force Black to trade his dark square bishop
with my knight. Once Mr. Carnall played
7. ... Bd7, I pulled my valuable bishop
back to its rightful diagonal eying h7. I’m
sure glad I kept the bishop.
8. ... Qc7 9. Bd2 0-0 10. 0-0 a6 11. Re1 Bb5
(??—L.A.) 12. Bc2?
rsn-+-trk+
+pwq-+pzpp
p+-+psn-+
+l+p+-+-vl-zP-+-+
+-sN-zPN+PzPLvL-zPPzP
tR-+QtR-mK-
After 12. Bc2
When Mr. Carnall played 11. … Bb5
trying to chop off my good bishop, I was
way too inflexible with my plan. I retreated
my bishop to c2 avoiding any trade while
maintaining the attack on h7. Here, I
could’ve taken his intruding bishop with
my knight and bishop and won a pawn.
In fact, 12. Nxb5 would have won a full
piece.
12. ... Bd7 (12. Bc6!? – L.A.) 13. a3 Bd6 14.
e4
I pushed my e-pawn, starting my plan
to kick out Mr. Carnall’s knight on f6,
which would enable me to start the fire-
works and build tension with a bishop’s
sacrifice. I call this strategy “removing
the guard.”
14. ... dxe4 15. Nxe4 Nxe4 16. Bxe4 Bc6
rsn-+-trk+
+pwq-+pzpp
p+lvlp+-+
+-+-+-+-+-zPL+-+
zP-+-+N+-zP-vL-zPPzP
tR-+QtR-mK-
After 16. ... Bc6
My plan to remove the knight worked
well when Black took my pawn. I abruptly
took with my knight, gaining a direct
attack on my target: the f6-knight. I had
a blast of excitement as I chopped his
knight with my bishop after he accepted
the trade. I have successfully removed
the guard! I got a feeling my bishop sac
would catch him off guard. Ways to prevent my sac are putting a bishop on e7 or
playing ... h7-h6, both will make the later
Ng5+ harder.
Still, 16. ... Be7 (or 16. ... h6) 17. Rc1
favors White, who’s better developed.
Stage 2: The Classic Bishop Sacrifice
17. Bxh7+! (punch 1)
The Classic Bishop Sacrifice. After calculating the risks and rewards including
Black’s Bxh2+, I went for the sac! My
coach Mario said that you don’t have to
calculate all the way before doing the
sac. I was very hopeful because the calculation seemed to give me the advantage
up to 19. Qg4. You may be surprised. I
have only failed once in all the bishop’s
sacs I’ve ever done. I have “sac’ed” many
times over the board and online. Also,
the only two people that have bishop
uschess.org