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This type of Queen sacrifice
is far more complex than a tactical combination.
It is based more on player's intuition and experience.
Usually in situations
where a positional sacrifice is employed, a player
hopes to capitalize on some favorable positional
factors. Among them could be:
1) The weak position
of the opponent's King;
2) The very passive
placement of the opponent's pieces;
3) The total domination
in the center;
4) A very strong passed
pawn;
5) All of the above
mentioned factors together.
This instructive and
interesting game was played between the greatest
chess archenemies of the late 20th century.
Karpov - Kasparov
New
York, 1990
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6
3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5
Here it is, the Classical
King's Indian. The system with 6.Be2 remains
one of the best weapons against the KID, while
the line with 6…e5 presents the biggest challenge
for White.
7.Be3 Qe7 8.dxe5 dxe5
9.Nd5 Qd8 10.Bc5 Nxe4 11.Be7! Qd7 12.Bxf8 Kxf8
13.Qc2 Nc5 14.Rd1
Black's opening play
was rather dubious and Karpov has won the exchange.
Now things look even worse for Black as White
threatens 15.Nb6, striking both Queen and Rook.
But the World Champion came up with a wonderful
positional idea.
14...Nc6! 15.0-0!
Karpov decided to castle
first, as Black Queen can not leave the c-pawn
anyway.
15...Ne6!
Now Black is prepared
to play 16...Ncd4 and White has to go after the
opponent's Queen.
16.Nb6! axb6 17.Rxd7
Bxd7
This position is rather
unusual. White has won a Queen for a dark-squared
Bishop, a Knight and a pawn, but things are far
from being clear. Black has a very good open
file for his Rook; the d4-square is under Black's
control and the possibility of …f7-f5 and …e5-e4, opening
the h8-a1 diagonal for the dark-square
Bishop, is there as well. All these things together
give Black a fair chance. The best line for White
here was 18.a3 Ncd4
19.Nxd4 Nxd4 20.Qd2, keeping
a very small edge, as was pointed out by some
commentators. Basically, White's heavy pieces
are fairly restrained here, while Black's minor
pieces are placed very well, particularly the
Knight on d4.
18.Qd2?! Be8!
Now chances are even
because White cannot protect the a-pawn and stop… e5-e4 at the same time.
19.b3 e4 20.Ne1?!
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