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Essential Chess Sacrifices Reviewed by Tom Codispoti
Feeling a bit one-dimensional? Searching for something a little different to round out your game but you just can’t bring yourself to dive into that endgame tome yet? Well, David LeMoir has written a book that I believe fits the bill quite nicely. This is a good choice for those looking for a book on middle-game play but one that is a bit livelier than the usual tactics book. Essential Chess Sacrifices is a work with an interesting premise and I believe it makes its case rather convincingly. From the back cover, the book states that “Sacrifices are an essential part of chess. Those who never consider sacrificing will miss countless opportunities and find that promising positions repeatedly slip away. Players who do not appreciate their opponent’s sacrificial possibilities will be unable to see danger signs, and find themselves on the wrong end of too many king-hunts.” LeMoir sets out to examine the most important standard piece sacrifices in many different openings and give the reader an understanding of the elements of the particular sacrifice, why it works, and what defenses there are against it. It is his contention that there are many important positions that can only be played well by those who comprehend the thematic sacrifices that are possible. LeMoir’s thesis that only those who also understand the sacrificial properties of a given position truly grasp the complete picture is hard to challenge. First, let me discuss some of the physical properties of the book. Gambit Publications is the publisher and this is typical Gambit fare. The book is 6 ¾” by 9 ¾” and a healthy 224 pages long. The number of pages coupled with the fact that it is a glue-bound soft cover book means that it won’t lie flat without seriously creasing the spine (which I am always loath to do). However, my usual practice of placing my stapler on top of the pages to keep it open as I play the positions out on a board or on my laptop works just fine. There is an index of games by player and another one of games by opening. The text is figurine algebraic in the standard double-column format. The mainline moves are in bold which is always nice, especially if you just want to play through the mainline first and go back to the variations later. There is at least one diagram per game; most have two and the longer games have three or four. One diagram is always the position just before the sacrifice in question. This makes it easy when you want to do some light reading without playing through the moves on a board. As for the heart of the book, LeMoir divides the important sacrifices into fifteen different themes. They are:
There is a nice introduction and a chapter at the end on how to play successful piece sacrifices. There are also exercises at the end of each chapter, which help you to grasp the basic concepts. The author uses 247 games to illustrate his point. Most of the games are complete but some are truncated once the point has been made and the remainder of the game is no longer relevant. This is nice because the reader has a chance to see how the attack is set up, how it develops out of the opening, how it translates into a winning position, and usually, how it is converted into a win. More than half of the games are from Sicilian openings. This is due to the fact that several of the themes are dedicated specifically to this opening. But do not let this deter you if you do not play the Sicilian Defense. First of all, these sacrifices are specifically for White, so if you play 1.e4 and the open or closed Sicilian, then these games will be perfect for you. Naturally, if you play the Sicilian as Black, then these games may interest you so that you are aware of some of the dangers to watch out for. Finally, those of you who don’t play 1.e4 or who don’t play the open or closed Sicilian as White (i.e. 2.c3, KIA, etc.) will still find these ideas beneficial. This is because it is quite possible for a position to arise from another opening that has the same elements ripe for a sacrifice as one that developed from a Sicilian set-up. Working through these games will help you to develop an eye for spotting sacrificial chances in your own games. I will admit that some openings lend themselves more to sacrificial possibilities than others do but there are many themes discussed such as the attacks on the castled King that have possibilities in just about any opening. Within each theme there are subheadings that further break down the topic to aid in comprehension. For example, in the chapter titled “Dragging the King out: Nxf7+”, the sections are:
Each section starts off with a preface of a paragraph or two and then one or two games as examples. There are just enough variations to help understand why a particular move was made or where improvements could be made but not so many that you are bogged down in too much detail. LeMoir’s writing style is very engaging. He sprinkles quite a bit of text instruction throughout the games, especially pointing out ideas that set-up, execute, and complete the sacrificial attack and defense. I have to admit that I had a lot of fun playing through this book. The games were exciting and the subject matter was appealing. Here is one of the shorter examples from the above section - The Follow Up Check on the Longer Diagonal: Burgess - Bank
Friis
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