Intuitive Sacrifice

Hello, my dear chess friends!

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I want to tell you about the most recent OTB Tournament that I held in February last year!

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Due to lockdown, the last tournament I attended was Rapid Tournament.

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I must say that I played well, although I slightly lowered my rating. There were quite a lot of strong-playing chess players with a low rating, and any draw with such a chess player greatly lowered my rating. However, in the last round, I played out and even managed to make a draw with GM Sergei Zablotsky, thereby depriving him of any chance of winning prizes!

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In the first round I barely beat a 12-year-old boy. The whole game my position was close to winning, but he defended very well and started making mistakes only when there was little time left.

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In the second round, I got a 15-year-old Candidate Master. And we played Giucco Piano (I'm white). Unfortunately, I messed up the order of moves and got an unfamiliar position for me. The opponent, by the way, was also not very familiar, and made rather dubious moves.

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At some point, I sacrificed a piece without calculating the lines and I was right. Of course, unlike the positions where the human brain can't fully calculate the options, in this position everything could be calculated. But there wasn't enough time. And then I took an intuitive sacrifice.

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So, what is the criteria for sacrificing by intuition?

1️⃣ You should be in a better position.

2️⃣ The position must be difficult and sharp.

3️⃣ It would be impossible to calculate the options until the end of the combination. Either due to lack of time, or due to the complexity of the options and the availability of alternatives for the opponent.

4️⃣ You must have a good tactical vision.

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Although my sacrifice was not the strongest move in that position, it still turned out in my favor. Winning this game gave me more confidence and allowed me to score a few more points.