Famous Queen Sacrifices in Chess

The year was 1956. The game is sheer poetry, and the queen sacrifice is so deep you need scuba gear to see it. But somehow Fischer did, even though he was only thirteen at the time. Hans Kmoch nicknamed this "The Game Of The Century." So without further ado, let's look at the position and see if we can, without moving the pieces, find the line that justified Bobby's parting with "the lady."

What Fischer saw and calculated in the above position is amazing. Just to get a sense of it, let's list all of the candidate moves in this position. But before we start let's make an effort to say what is going on in the position. Obviously the queen is being attacked by the bishop on c5. Knee jerk reaction is to move the queen. But before we jump to that move let's look at what else is going on. The king is on an awkward square, blocking in his rook on h1, and unable to protect his rook on d1. The light squared diagonal would be a terrible weakness for White, were black able to take advantage of it, with the knight checks to follow and the blocked e1 and e2 squares guarded by Black's rook. But alas his light squared bishop is in no position to get to it, at least not from where it sits now, and not only that but White has a light squared bishop on that diagonal anyway which doesn't look easy to dislodge. So at least from here it looks pretty much impossible to take advantage of that a6-f1 diagonal. The knight on c3 is hanging. Too bad the Bishop on g7 can't protect it, for there is a white pawn on d4 that stands in the way. The knight on f3 protects the e1 square as well, so it would be difficult to get a back rank mate there, although it that rook on d1 were to leave the rank the queen might be able to do it. But that brings us back to the fact that the queen is under attack. There is not one single square on the b-file that is safe for the queen, so she clearly can't stay there threatening anything, and when she moves back she retreats. Oh, how one hates to retreat. Is the queen really worth so much in this position, or is there something worth giving her up for? Back to eyeing that diagonal on the king. It just looks so ... tempting.

That must have been what little Bobby was doing. Now with that in mind, let's list some candidate moves (and at least one of them must include that dang diagonal!)

1. Move the Queen, Ug how boring. Qc7 or d8 like a wayward school girl sent home for passing notes. Plus you lose the knight for no reason. Oh, and no diagonal.

2. ...Nb1. Trade Queens? Rook can't capture due to Qxb1 and it's mate next move. At least it might protect the knight, that is until the white queen plays c1 and there's a double threat, one on the queen, one on the knight.

3. You almost wonder, was Bobby forced to play the move that made this the "game of the century" -- ...Be6. Of course we assume he saw this clear from before he ended up in this situation, and surely he did if he's playing at this level. But look at this move!

Besides the a6-f1 diagonal there is another diagonal that Fischer gets here. Can you see how, and can you see why it matters? Thirteen year old Bobby could. Try and see what on earth this could mean. Take a few minutes to look at the move, and use your creativity to figure out how to either checkmate White, or gain more material than you lost. It is possible. The queen is worth nine pawns, not the whole set.

That's right! He found a way. And of course it's obvious, once little Bobby shows it to us. Let's follow along.

18. Bxb6 Bxc4+ (of course) By the way, had Black taken the bishop he would have been smothered mated in two. Take a moment and find it. Ok, ok, back to the diagonal, remember? Qb5 Kg1, Ne2+ Kf1, Ng3 Qf1+, Rxf1 (King can't take, it's check from the knight) Ne2#! So pretty it counts as two wins.

19. Kg1 Ne2+

20. Kf1 Nxd4+ (opening the a1-h8 diagonal for protection from the bishop when the knight returns to where he threatens the rook)

21. Kg1 Ne2+

22. Kf1 Nc3+ (clever little monster)

23. Kg1 axb6 (he could draw if he wanted to now, but instead he makes the queen move without capturing the knight, then he gets to win the rook as well.) Total, he gets the rook and two bishops plus a pawn for the queen. For you who are counting that's 5+3+3+1=12 to 9