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The Classic Bxh7 sacrifice

The Classic Bxh7 sacrifice

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c

USA

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Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
You left out one key ingredient.

Black must have his queen's bishop locked in (by e6).

Long ago, I learned the hard way that Bxh7+ Kxh7, Ng5+ Kg8, Qh5 can be refuted by Bf5 (if it is available) !!!

The queen's bishop must not be able to defend the h7 square from queen invasion.

That is all I will say at this time (a very general rule).

(I have two games in progress with the classical bishop sacrifice right now !!!)
That's a good point; I have personally never been victimized by that, but that's because as you said the pawn on e6 stopped and Bf5 ideas.

AttilaTheHorn
Erro Ergo Sum

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All aspects of the classic bishop sacrifice is discussed extremely well in "Art of Attack in Chess" by Vladimir Vukovic.

S
Caninus Interruptus

2014.05.01

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Originally posted by dsmfire
It is a Lasker game!
Lasker- Thomas, 1912

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/laskerthomas.html
Yes, it is a Lasker game, but it was Edward Lasker, who was a distant cousin of ex-WC Emanuel.

And the actual finish was 14.h4+ Kf4 15.g3+ Kf3 16.Be2+ Kg2 17.Rh2+ Kg1 18.Kd2#.

W
Angler

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Here's one from January:

16...Kg6 might have held out longer. I spent about thirty minutes with the analysis board working out the variations, which I seem to recall gave me at minimum a one pawn advantage and his king remaining exposed on the center files. When he moved back to the eighth rank after the knight check, it was over.

R
YTM

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Game 3759097 The success of the Kings Bishop x h7 sacrifice is as always,knowing when it is correct to do so. Just one rather simple example among many 😉

Invalid FEN inserted - 3759097

R
YTM

Earth Milky Way

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Not of course a true sacrifice as the bishop remains on board throughout the game,however as the bishop remains trapped to games end it is effectively a 'sacrificed prisoner',playing no further active part in this game. A piece held hostage but also acting as an effective hostage taker.A bishop of a very unbishop like nature!?😲

greenpawn34

e4

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Originally posted by SwissGambit
Yes, it is a Lasker game, but it was Edward Lasker, who was a distant cousin of ex-WC Emanuel.

And the actual finish was 14.h4+ Kf4 15.g3+ Kf3 16.Be2+ Kg2 17.Rh2+ Kg1 18.Kd2#.

[pgn][white "Edward Lasker]
[black "George Thomas"]
1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. e4 fxe4 7. Nxe4 O-O 8. Bd3 Qe7 9. Ne5 b6 10. Qh5 Bb7 11. Qxh7+ Kxh7 12. Nxf6+ Kh6 13. Neg4+ Kg5 14.h4+ Kf4 15.g3+ Kf3 16.Be2+ Kg2 17.Rh2+ Kg1 18.Kd2#[/pgn]
Ho Ho - greenpawn's little trick question worked.
Well it's not my trick question, it's Edward Winter's - read on.

The game I posted was actually K.S. Kibbey v D.T. Dorman. USA 1942
and the score is correct.

Proof and more about Lasker v Thomas (which is the game you refer to)
is here on Edward Winter's site.

http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/laskerthomas.html

By far the best chess site on the whole net.

I too thought it was Lasker game when I first saw it.

h

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Originally posted by greenpawn34
Ho Ho - greenpawn's little trick question worked.
Well it's not my trick question, it's Edward Winter's - read on.

The game I posted was actually K.S. Kibbey v D.T. Dorman. USA 1942
and the score is correct.

Proof and more about Lasker v Thomas (which is the game you refer to)
is here on Edward Winter's site.

http://www.chesshistory.com/wint ...[text shortened]... best chess site on the whole net.

I too thought it was Lasker game when I first saw it.
I have seen somewhere (some Internet site) that there are about a dozen different score sheets available of that game, all with different finishes (some finish O-O-O# too) and move orders/moves to get to the position with Qxh7+.

OK, I've written this message and decided to check out Winter's page on it. It was that page indeed 🙂

L

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Originally posted by AttilaTheHorn
All aspects of the classic bishop sacrifice is discussed extremely well in "Art of Attack in Chess" by Vladimir Vukovic.
Yes it is. I have that book, and the entire section on the Bxh7 sac makes it worth the read alone.

d

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Originally posted by chesskid001
I just finished a game Game 6058677 where I had a chance to use the classic Bxh7 sacrifice; from what I've read and from what I've learned through experience, the Bxh7 sacrifice is most likely to work when

A) A Knight can check on g5 and a Queen can get to h5 (these are the usual prerequisites for the sacrifice)
B) A bishop exists on the c1-h6 ...[text shortened]... ot work? Or perhaps any more ideas what makes the sacrifice successful and what makes it fail?
I was the victim of such sacrifice in my last FICS game. It's an embarrassing loss: http://blog.chess.com/diskamyl/weekly-fics-game-analysis-2

AttilaTheHorn
Erro Ergo Sum

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Originally posted by Leaadas
Yes it is. I have that book, and the entire section on the Bxh7 sac makes it worth the read alone.
>First of all, sorry about that grammar mistake in my original post. (My grandmother, a university graduate before WWI, is turning over in her grave at seeing me do that! I know I'll hear about that when I meet her again in the after-life.)
>Yes, I agree. That chapter on the classic bishop sac is alone worth the price of the book. This is one of my favourite books. I heartily recommend it.

W
Angler

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Originally posted by greenpawn34
By far the best chess site on the whole net.
I have a hard time making or accepting such broad declarations, but for what Winter does--investigate historical questions large and small, identify and verify sources--I must agree. Edward Winter has no peer.

d

1. e4!!

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Why not 34. Rc7+? It wins the queen.

BSU

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think in your game its sound as the king is very isolated but usually
it doesn't work.

i play this bishop sacrifice all the time and gives a nice attack on the castle :

[Event "uChess rated"]
[Site "www.uchess.com"]
[Date "2009.3.1"]
[Round "?"]
[White "solstice"]
[Black "Black Star"]
[Result "0-1"]

G

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I will show you a game where I thought I had a winning attack but was just 1 tempo short.... The end of the game is bad, I know 🙁

Game 6059537

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