What is your favourite queen sacrifice ?

1. The sacrificial orgy

Our first study does not feature only high quality, but high quantity as well : no less than six queen sacrifices, three by White and three by Black !

White to play and draw V. Korolkov & L. Mitrofanov, 1957 1st price Revista de Sah	The key feature of this position is the situation of both kings. With the kings where they are, Black is in great danger of mate. But with the white king on a5 and the black one on b7, it is White who is in great danger of mate ! This difference is worth a queen, as the following events will largely demonstrate. The solution is 1.Qf4-e5!, threatening mate on h8 and leaving Black with few choices. As a sidenote, neither 1.g6-g7? Qd2-d8, neither 1.e6-e7? Qd2-d7 did achieve anything. 1...Qd2-a5+! The sole purpose of this queen sacrifice is to desincarcerate the black king. Controlling the last rank wasn't enough : 1...Qd2-d8? 2.Qe5-b2+ Kb8-c8 3.Qb2-b7#. 2.Ka6xa5 Kb8-b7! Threatening to mate by promoting the e-pawn. Of course not 2...e2-e1=Q+? 3.Ka5-a6 when the queen sacrifice would have been useless. 3.Qe5-b2+ Kb7-a7
After 3...Kb7-a7 It is Black's turn to threaten mate.	4.Qb2-b8+! Like Black's, White's queen sacrifice is winning ground for hist king and closing out the opponent's king again. The straightforward 4.Qb2xe2? was not enough because of 4...Nf1-d2! and White could avoid the immediate mate on b3 or c4 only by sacrificing his queen - and getting mated soon afterwards. 4...Ka7xb8 5.Ka5-a6 e2-e1=Q 6.g6-g7 It works only in this move order : if 6.e6-e7? Qe1-a5+ 7.Ka6xa5 Kb8-b7 8.e7-e8=Q e3-e2 9.Qe8-a8 Kb7xa8 10.Ka5-a6 e2-e1=Q 11.g6-g7 Qe1-g3! and Black wins. 6...Qe1-a5+! Queen sacrifice number three ! No good was 6...Qe1-g3? 7.e6-e7 and White mates. 7.Ka6xa5 Kb8-b7 8.g7-g8=Q e3-e2 8...Nf1-d2? would of course lose to 9.Qg8-a8+ Kb7xa8 10.Ka5-a6 and the white pawn would promote with mate. 9.Qg8-a8+! Number four, which must be done at the right place : not 9.Qg8-b8+? Kb7xb8 10.Ka5-a6 Kb8-c8 and the white pawn would not promote any more. 9...Kb7xa8 10.Ka5-a6 e2-e1=Q 11.e6-e7 Qe1-a5+! Number five... 12.Ka6xa5 Ka8-b7 13.e7-e8=Q
After 13.e7-e8=Q Black still has a mating resource.	White seems to have got the last word and to win with his extra queen. 13...Nf1-d2! But the black knight still has something to say ! Mate is threatened on both b3 and c4, leaving White no choice but... 14.Qe8-a8+! To issue a sixth queen sacrifice, of course. The average lifetime of a queen is this study is very short ! As we will see, 14.Qe8-b8+? instead was again not sufficient. 14...Kb7xa8 15.Ka5-a6 Nd2xc4 Or the equivalent 15...Nd2-f3 ; Black is now able to catch the last dangerous pawn... and to win ? He would if White did not have a fine stalemate trick in reserve ! 16.f5-f6 Nc4-d6 17.f6-f7! Nd6xf7 18.a4-a5!
After 18.a4-a5! Black to play is unable to lift the stalemate !	Now whatever Black plays, White will be stalemated ! Note that if the black king was on b8 as a sequel of White having played 14.Qe8-b8+? instead of 14.Qe8-a8+!, Black could simply un-stalemate him by 18...Kb8-c8.

2. The passive sacrifice

Apart from a literaly stunning queen sacrifice, the following study has two features that connoisseurs highly appreciate : the economy of means of its starting position, and very clever play by both sides.

White to play and win G. Kasparian, 1939 1st price Shakhmaty v SSSR	In order to win, White must keep his last pawn and drive it to promotion before the black pawns become dangerous. In this view, the first moves are clearly best. 1.Bd2-g5 Blind obedience to the principle of setting one's rook behind its passed pawn by 1.Rd5-f5? fails to 1...Rg6-g1+ 2.Kc1-c2 b4-b3+ 3.Kc2-d3 b3-b2 and the black pawn has outspeeded the white one. 1...b4-b3 2.Rd5-d2+ The whole study is going to concentrate on the control of this second rank, which for the moment seems to ensure that the Black pawn does not go further. Blind obedience to the principle of setting one's rook behind the opponent's passed pawn would have failed once more : 2.Rd5-b5? Rg6xg5! and White cannot recapture without letting the black pawn queen. 2...Ka2-a1 Of course not 2...Ka2-a3? 3.f6-f7 and Black has nothing to oppose to White's promotion. 3.f6-f7 Now the promotion of the white pawn is forced anyway, and Blacks needs something drastic. As a sideline, 3.Bg5-e3? (with the idea Be3-d4) seemed to be the winning move, but in fact after 3...b3-b2+ 4.Rd2xb2 Rg6xf6 5.Be3-d4 Rf6-f1+ 6.Kc1-c2 a4-a3! 7.Rb2-b1+ Ka1-a2 8.Rb1xf1 it leaded only to stalemate ! 3...Rg6xg5! Ignoring the promotion threat - not 3...a4-a3 4.Rd2-d1! when White can answer Black's check with a check of his own. 4.f7-f8=Q
After 4.f7-f8=Q White seems to clinch an easy win.	White is a queen up and is threatening mate on a3 for good measure, but Black has a surprising counter in 4...Rg5-g1+ 5.Rd2-d1 Rg1-g2! Suddenly Black takes control of the crucial second rank and sets two fearsome mating threats : 6...Rg2-c2# and 6...b3-b2#. 6.Qf8-a3+ The only other sensible defense, 6.Rd1-d2 Rg2-g1+, would of course do no more than repeating the moves. 6...Rg2-a2 Threatening to advance the pawn or to capture the white queen. It is now very much looking like Black managed to turn the tables within three moves : After the natural 7.Qa3xa2+ Ka1xa2 8.Rd1-d2+ Ka2-a1, White could do nothing against 9...a4-a3 and 10...b3-b2+ driving a pawn to promotion. But here comes the incredible blow : 7.Rd1-d2!!
After 7.Rd1-d2!! White leaves his queen en prise !	Is the possession of the second rank really worth a whole queen ? 7...Ra2xa3 Black could also try to win the queen while giving away his rook : 7...b3-b2+ 8.Qa3xb2+ Ra2xb2 9.Rd2xb2 a4-a3, but then the intermediate check 10.Rb2-b1+ would lead to a well-known theoretical win : 10...Ka1-a2 11.Rb1-b8 Ka2-a1 12.Kc1-c2 a3-a2 13.Kc2-b3 Ka1-b1 14.Rb8-h8 a2-a1=N+ 15.Kb3-c3 Kb1-a2 (15...Na1-c2 16.Rh8-h1+) 16.Rh8-b8 and Black is in Zugzwang. 8.Rd2-b2! Closing all the doors, but one... 8...Ra3-a2 After his rook has been trapped in a dead end, Black is suddenly in complete Zugzwang and this suicidal move is his only move as well ! 9.Rb2-b1#

3. The three-exclamation-marks sacrifice

The following study features one of the most well-known moves in the history of chess composition. Something like the study equivalent to Frank Marshall's Qg3 queen sacrifice in his all-famous game against Levitzki, except that it is not only a show-off, but the only way to win !

White to play and win L. Mitrofanov, 1967, version 1st price Rustaveli memorial tournament	The g6 and h2 pawns are both due to promote, which will leave White down on material. He has no choice but to play for mate. 1.b5-b6+ Ka7-a8 2.Re4-e1! White must obstruct the first rank as 2.g6-g7 fails to 2...h2-h1=Q 3.g7-g8=Q+ Bd6-b8 4.a6-a7 Qh1-a1+ and Black has at least a perpetual check. 2...Ng2xe1 3.g6-g7 h2-h1=Q 4.g7-g8=Q+ Bd6-b8 5.a6-a7 This is as aggressive as White can be. Mates are threatened on b7 and b8. 5...Ne5-c6+! A nice defense, opening the fifth rank. 5...Ne5-d7 is not a good enough defense because of 6.Qg8-e6! (threatening mate on c6) 6...Bb8xa7 (Or 6...Nd7-e5 7.a7xb8=Q+ Ka8xb8 8.Qe6-d6+ and mates) 7.Qe6-c6+ Ka8-b8 8.Qc6-c7+ Kb8-a8 9.Qc7xa7#. 6.d5xc6 Qh1xh5+
After 6...Qh1xh5+ How is White going to avoid the perpetual check ?	What to do now ? On 7.Ka5-a6 Black has a nasty check on e2... 7.Qg8-g5!! This move is so amazing the first time you see it that some books award it with a triple exclamation mark. Black can capture the white queen with check, but this will set his queen on a black square, unable to check the White king further. White will then proceed to mate with his remaining pawns ! 7...Qh5xg5+ 8.Ka5-a6 Threatening b6-b7 mate. 8...Bb8xa7 But doesn't this simple move thwart all of White's brilliancies ? Fortunately there is still one left : 9.c6-c7!!
After 9.c6-c7!! The white pawns beat Black's queen, bishop and knight !	After this little pawn move, White is threatening both 9.c7-c8Q+ and 9.b6-b7#, leaving Black completely helpless. The only way to avoid both mates is 9...Qg5-a5+ (9...Ba7xb6 10.c7-c8=Q#) 10.Ka6xa5 Ka8-b7 (10...Ba7xb6+ 11.Ka5xb6 still doesn't help !) 11.b6xa7 and White will force the promotion of one of his pawns by sacrificing the other one.