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How to Play the POSITIONAL Queen Sacrifice!
When most people think of a Queen sacrifice it’s the beginning of a beautiful combination ending in checkmate. Why else would we give up our most precious piece except for immediate victory of material gain?
Legendary coach GM Alex Yermolinsky has some useful ideas on the little-discussed topic of the positional Queen sacrifice! As you know, when you get stronger at chess, you have to broaden your range of skills in order to beat classically solid opponents.
One of the main ways to do this is to create a material imbalance. A Rook for a Bishop and pawn, a Knight for 3 pawns, 2 minor pieces for Rook and pawn and so on. But what about giving up the Queen?
In this video, GM Yermolinsky reveals how to play the positional Queen sacrifice, starting with questions of how to assess whether your King will be in danger from the opposing Queen and just how much compensation you’re getting – i.e., is it worth it?
We get to see one of Yermolinsky’s own games where he played White against the Botvinnik variation of the Semi-Slav. His opponent places his Knight on e5, exploiting the fact that the d4 pawn is pinned. However, undeterred, Yermolinsky takes the Knight anyway, giving up his Queen for Rook and minor piece!
The justification for this is that Black’s pieces, particularly his King’s Bishop and Rook, are inactive and will have difficulty developing. Add to this the restrictive pawn chain e5-f6 and White has chances. But this must be balanced with the threat of the Black Queen which is able to target all the Queenside pawns.
The plan given by Yermolinsky is a good one to remember. White will allows his Queenside pawns to be captured as he goes after the e6 and f7 pawns. The position of Black’s pieces allows White to gain some tempi during these captures. Once cleared, White has connected passed pawns on g5 and f6 and open lines for moves like Bh3+, introducing checkmate possibilities.
Watch the video to learn why a positional Queen sacrifice should be part of your box of tricks and how to assess them accurately. This insight into the relative value of the pieces will improve the strength of your positional play – plus, it’s always great fun to play a Queen sacrifice!
If you want to learn more from one of the most respected coaches in the world, check out GM Yermolinsky’s Every Russian Schoolboy Knows.