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Sacrifices
A player is said to SACRIFICE if they allow a certain amount of their
forces to be captured without recapturing an equivalent amount of their
opponent's forces. They will not, of course, knowingly do so unless they
expect to obtain some other advantage which will at least compensate for
the loss of material. Such compensation can only be afforded by a superiority
of the position. In as much as a position can only be considered superior
if it enables the mating of the opposing King or the obtaining of an advantage
in material which will secure a win in the ending, it is evident that
in sacrificing a player really never intends to give up more than they
get, but that on the contrary they expect to gain more than they lose.
In other words, a sacrifice, if correct, is a sacrifice only TEMPORARILY,
and very soon yields either the same, if not more material, or an attack
on the King to which the latter falls victim.
The less evident the way is in which a player recovers the material sacrificed
or realizes an equivalent advantage the more beautiful the sacrifice is
considered. If the effect of a sacrifice is a direct mating attack on
the King, it is as a rule not difficult to foresee as long as the typical
mating positions are known to the player, most of which have been discussed
in the combinations pages. The
following examples illustrate sacrifices which occur fairly often in actual
games.
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