Oddities In The Classic Bishop Sacrifice - Chess.com https://www.chess.com/article/view/oddities-in-the-classic-bishop-sacr...

Oddit ies In The Classic Bishop Sacrif ice

IM Silman
Mar 23, 2017, 12:00 AM | 1,170 Reads | 7 Comments | Tactics

Every chess player knows about the classic bishop sacrif ice. And everyone wants to
smash that light-squared bishop into h7, drag the screaming-in-terror enemy king from
its pawn cover, and execute it as its army helplessly watches.

In general, the victimized king gets mated on squares like e7, f8, g8, h8, h7, h6, g6, and
f6. And, in general, sequences like Bxh7+, Ng5+, Qh5 (or Qg4 if the king runs to g6)
make the CBS (classic bishop sacrifice) easy to play and as smooth as silk.

Here’s a classic setup:

At t acker vs. Vict im

Unleash the Hounds! | 1-0
8

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Δ ¥
A checklist:
Bishop ready to explode on h7 via Bxh7+. OH YEAH!
Bishop streaming down the c1-h6 diagonal. OH YEAH!
Rook on e-file ready to join in the bloody festivities. OH YEAH!
Pawn on e5 preventing defenses like …Nf6. OH YEAH!
Knight on f3 ready to leap to g5 after the explosion on h7. OH YEAH!
Queen ready to leap into action on g4 or h5. OH YEAH!

Kool-Aid Man image via Wikipedia.

Another version features a pawn on h4 (and I'll throw in a mystery too!):

Greco vs. NN
Europe | 1620 | ECO: C01 | 1-0
8
1.¡e4 e6 2.¡d4 Nf 6 3.¡Bd3 Nc6 4.¡Nf 3

7
Be7 5.¡h4 O-O 6.¡e5 Nd5 7.¡Bxh7+ !
Kxh7 8.¡Ng5+ Bxg5 9.¡hxg5+ Kg6

6 10.¡Qh5+ Kf 5 11.¡Qh7+
(Faster was 11.¡Qh3+ Ke4 (11...¡Kg6

5
12.¡Qh7#) 12.¡Qd3#)

11...¡g6 12.¡Qh3+ Ke4 13.¡Qd3#

4

a b c d e f g h

Δ ¥ f J # , . @

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THE MYSTERY :

Why did Greco play 11.Qh7+ (which mates in three moves) instead of 11.Qh3+ (which
mates in two)? Chess scholars have pondered this for hundreds of years, without ever
finding a concrete answer.

THE MYSTERY CRACKED!

Now the unknown is shockingly known, as I have cracked the mystery! After many years
of painstaking pondering I suddenly realized that 11.Qh3+ clearly shows the path Black’s
king took to get to the center of the board. That would be boring for a player of Greco’s
creativity. But 11.Qh7+!! g6 12.Qh3+ Ke4 13.Qd3 mate is far more mysterious (no
longer boring) since the pawn on g6 leaves you wondering how in the world Black’s king
got to e4!

ODD CBS 1:

You might not think that a classic bishop sacrifice will appear in our next game, but it will
only take a blink to show you just how wrong you are.

Alexander M cDonnell vs. James Finch

London | 1830 | ECO: C00 | 1-0
8
White has an extra minor piece but Black

7
has three pawns. Unfortunately, Black will
soon discover that he doesn't have a

6 king! 18.¡Bg5! Okay, I have to admit that

18.Bxh7+!! actually works here too. It
5 makes me wonder if you should just toss
the bishop on h7 every time you can (in
4 fact, our next game shows a "in thin air"
Classic Bishop Sacrifice!)! After 18...Kxh7
3 19.Bg5! White will overwhelm the Black
king. I'll let you play with it and see if I'm
2 right or if I'm just pulling your chain.
18...¡Bxg5
1 (18...¡Qd8 19.¡Bxf 6 Qxf 6 20.¡Ne5 Qe7
21.¡Rxf 7! Rxf 7 22.¡Bxh7+ Take all my
a b c d e f g h
pieces! Take them all!!!
Δ ¥ f J # , . @

ODD CBS 2:

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Sometimes players are so excited by the classic bishop sacrifice that, if they are losing
anyway, they toss the bishop at h7 just for the fun of it. However, in this game I don’t
see any fun at all for White:

John William Schulten vs. Pierre De Saint Amant

Paris | 1842 | 0-1
8
White has a nice position but his next

7
move turns "ice" into "What have I
done???!!!" 10.¡e5?? White forgets that

6 his bishop on d3 isn't protected. The rest

of the notes will be the thoughts of poor
5 Mr. Schulten. I will add that the word,
"DOH!" was first used in this game. The
4 Simpsons were the ones that popularized
it but Schulten was its creator.
3 10...¡dxe5 "What? How can I be so
stupid?" 11.¡dxe5??
2 ("I think that's a pretty good move. I
can't play 11.¡Bxe5 since after 11...¡Nxe5
1 12.¡dxe5 Qxd3 13.¡exf 6 Bxf 6 I'm a
pawn down and my opponent has two
a b c d e f g h
bishops vs. two knights. -  Schulten)
Δ ¥ f J # , . @

ODD CBS 3:

Here’s a case of a mutant CBS:

M edley vs. Finch

Ries Divan | 1849 | 1-0
8
The position is more or less even, but

7
White suddenly noticed a brilliant new
form of Classic Bishop Sacrifice that not

6 only shocks the spectators but also wins

the game! 20.¡Bh7+ !! Sacrificing the
5 bishop in thin air! 20...¡Kxh7 20...Kf8 was
also fine for Black. 21.¡Qc2+ The point.
4 Now Black's king and queen are attacked
at the same time. Depressed, Black played
3 21...¡Kg8 and after 22.Rxe7 White went
on to win. However, Black was fine IF he
2 found the saving move. Since our puzzles

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Δ ¥ f J # , . @

ODD CBS 4:

Now we come to our main game. IM Elliott Winslow won a somewhat odd (but
epic!) classic bishop sacrifice by sacrificing on h7 when he had no dark-squared bishop.
Instead, he made use of a rook lift on the c-file (usually if there is a rook lift in
the classic bishop sacrifice it’s on the e-file).

Also, a decisive classic bishop sacrifice usually ends with the enemy king dying on the
kingside. Elliott chased the poor king all the way to the d4-square when his opponent
gave up. Black should have given the spectators a rush since the king might well have
died on a2! One doesn’t see a king run from h7 to its demise on a2 very often!

Elliot t Winslow vs. Hovik M anvelyan

San Francisco | 2016 | 1-0
8
1.¡e4 e6 2.¡d4 d5 3.¡Nd2 c5 4.¡Ngf 3

7
cxd4 5.¡Nxd4 Nc6 6.¡Nxc6 bxc6 7.¡Bd3
Nf 6 8.¡Qe2 Qb6 9.¡O-O a5 10.¡b3 Ba6

6 11.¡Bb2 Bc5 12.¡c4 Bd4 13.¡Bxd4 Qxd4

14.¡Rac1 O-O 15.¡Nf 3 Qa7 16.¡e5 Nd7
5 17.¡Bxh7+ ! Here we go! 17...¡Kxh7
18.¡Ng5+ Kg6
4 (18...¡Kh6 19.¡Rc3 g6 20.¡Rh3+ Kg7
21.¡Rh7+ Kg8 22.¡Qg4 Nxe5 23.¡Qh4
3 Qe7 24.¡Rh8+ Kg7 25.¡Qh6+ Kf 6
26.¡Nh7+ Kf 5 27.¡Rxf 8 Rxf 8 28.¡Qh3+

2
Ng4 (28...¡Kf 4 29.¡Re1 g5 30.¡g3+ Kf 3
31.¡Re3#) 29.¡f 3 Ke5 30.¡Qg3+ Kd4

1
31.¡f xg4 Kc5 32.¡Nxf 8 Qxf 8
33.¡Qc7 and it's time for Black to give
a b c d e f g h
up.)
Δ ¥ f J # , . @

This is as good a classic bishop sacrifice game as I’ve ever seen! I bow in awe at the
might of Winslow.

Finally, the promised solution to salvation in the Medley vs. Finch, Ries Divan 1849 game:

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M edley vs. Finch

Variation | 1/2-1/2
1
21...¡Ne4!! 22.¡Rxe4!

2
(22.¡Rxd8 Qxd8)

22...¡Rbc8! 23.¡Qb1
3 (23.¡Rc4+ g6 24.¡Rxc8 (24.¡Rxd8 Rxd8)
24...¡Rxd5 , =.)
4 23...¡Rc1+ ! 24.¡Qxc1 Qxe4 and Black's a
happy camper.
5

h g f e d c b a

Δ ¥ f J # , . @

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