English Chess Forum

Exchange sacs.
Which is more common? Rook for Bishop or Knight? If they are considered equal then which do you find yourself doing more often of which comes up as a possibilty more frequently?

Kevin O'Rourke wrote:Exchange sacs.
Which is more common? Rook for Bishop or Rook? If they are considered equal then which do you find yourself doing more often of which comes up as a possibilty more frequently?

Do you mean bishop or knight?

yes

Kevin O'Rourke wrote: Which is more common? Rook for Bishop or Knight?

In the opening, the Knight perhaps, given that .. Rxc3 is a normal move in the Dragon. There's a line in the Exchange Gruenfeld where White goes d5, allowing Bxa1, but I don't think that's very common these days.

Speaking of which, I just played through this famous game - wonderful!

Troianescu - Petrosian, Bucharest 1953

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d3 Nc6 4. Nbd2 g6 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 e6 7. O-O Nge7 8. Re1 O-O 9. c3 b6 10. Nf1 Ba6 11. d4 cd4 12. Nd4 Ne5 13. Bg5 h6 14. Qa4 Bb7 15. Be7 Qe7 16. Rad1 Rfc8 17. Ne3 Rc5 18. f4 Nc6 19. Nc6 Bc6 20. Qc2 Rd8 21. Qe2 Qb7 22. Nc2 b5 23. Rd2 Rc4 24. a3 a5 25. Ne3 Re4 26. Be4 Be4 27. Nc2 d5 28. Nd4 b4 29. cb4 ab4 30. a4 Qa7 31. Qf2 Rc8 32. b3 Bf8 33. Nb5 Qa6 34. Qe2 Qb6 35. Kf1 Rc3 36. Nc3 bc3 37. Rc2 Qb3 38. Rec1 Bb4 39. g4 Bc2 40. Rc2 Qa4 41. f5 ef5 42. gf5 g5 43. h4 Bc5 44. hg5 Qf4 45. Ke1 Qg3 46. Kd1 Qg1 47. Qe1 Qe1 48. Ke1 hg5 49. Ke2 Bd4 50. Ra2 Kg7 51. Kd3 Be5 52. Ra5 Kf6 53. Rd5 Kf5 54. Ke3 f6 55. Rc5 Kg4 56. Rc4 Kg3 57. Ke4 g4

Sicilian exchanges, or Pirc exchanges RxNc3 (good) and also Pirc exchanges where white offers Ra1 for Bg7 (bad for black).

I've been examining positions with RxB or N on e6/e3 for a change. Am working through Improving Your Chess Pattern Recognition this year.

There are lines in c3 Sicilian for White with one or two exchanges of R for B to get a queenside pawn to queen.

I also had a game some time ago with black in some strange queen pawn opening with two RxN sacrifices which were winning due to blocked nature of pawn structure. Will try to find that game in my boxes of scoresheets.

Thanks Nick for this game - it's been a pleasure to play through this evening.

Nick Grey wrote: I've been examining positions with RxB or N on e6/e3 for a change. Am working through Improving Your Chess Pattern Recognition this year.

It's surprising infrequent that you get the chance to play a passive exchange sacrifice in the style of Petrosian.

Here's one that I've had in recent years.

[FEN "5rk1/7p/p2b4/1p1p1ppq/3PrPb1/2P1B1P1/PP1N2QP/R3R1K1 w - - 2 22"]



I cannot claim it's original, since we had transposed to a Barden game from the 1962 Olympiad. It's in his 1960s book on the Ruy Lopez, a book I had read a long time ago. I didn't directly recall that game, but it just looked right.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Be7 7.Re1 O-O 8.c3 d5 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 c6 12.d4 Bd6 13.Re1 Qh4 14.g3 Qh3 15.Qe2 Bg4 16.Qf1 Qh5 17.Bxd5 cxd5 18.Be3 f5 19.f4 Rae8 20.Nd2 g5 21.Qg2 Re4 22.Nxe4 dxe4 23.Qd2 Bf3 24.Rf1 Qh3 25.Rf2 h5 26.fxg5 Bxg3 27.Rxf3 exf3 28.hxg3 Qxg3+ 29.Kh1 f4 30.Bg1 Re8 31.Qh2 Re2 32.Qxg3 fxg3 33.d5 f2 34.Bxf2 gxf2 35.Rf1 Rxb2 36.d6 Rd2 37.d7 Kg7 38.Rxf2 Rxd7 39.Kh2 Rd3 40.Rf6 Rd2+ 41.Kh3 Rxa2 42.Rh6 a5 43.Rxh5 Rc2 44.Kg4 Rxc3 45.Kf5 a4 46.Rh2 b4 47.Ke4 b3 48.Kd4 Rc2 49.Rh1 b2 50.Kd3 Rc1 0-1

The most common I'd say is Rook for Knight with the Knight being able to take
up an outpost. The two Rooks player should be thinking right away of saccing the
exchange back before the Knight gets settled and all kinds of ideas appear on the board.

A Rook for a Bishop. I think we would all consider swapping a Rook for a castled fianchettoed Bishop,
especially if we still had the Bishop of the same colour left after the swap.
(letting the a1 Rook go for a g7 Bishop when we still have the QB)

Hi Roger,

Nakamura must have read your post today and supplied an example
of a Rook for Bishop swap in the ending at the US Championship.

This one was an opposite coloured Bishop ending. Nakamura tossed the Rook
for a the Bishop and the Bishop then make a fool of the Rook.
(none of the promoting squares were controlled by the Bishop.)

Ray Robson - Nakamura 2017 USA Championship 2017 (round 1)
[SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/2p5/2p5/3b1k2/6p1/2R5/r4BP1/6K1 w - - 0 43"] 43. Bg3 Rxg2+ 44. Kf1 Rxg3 45. Rxg3 c5 46. Kf2 Kf4 47. Rd3 c6 48. Ra3 c4 49. Rc3 Be6 50. Ra3 Bf5 51. Rg3 Bd3 52. Re3 Be4 53. Ra3 Bd3 54. Ra5 g3+ 55. Kg1 Be4 56. Ra3 Bd5 57. Kf1 g2+ 58. Kf2 Ke5 59. Rg3 Kd4 60. Ke2 c3 61. Kd1 Be4 62. Ke2 c2 63. Kd2 Ke5 64. Rg4 Kf5 65. Rg8 Kf4 0-1


And speaking of Rooks and Bishops. This is the final position between
Carlsen and Svidler at the 2010 World Blitz Championship.

8/r7/7k/4BK2/8/8/8/6R1 b - - 38 99

White has just played 99.Rg1 Black resigned.

Today's challenge, using just the pieces in the above
diagram set up a position with both Kings in checkmate.

(just a piece of fun)