The Sacrifice of the Exchange

The exchange sacrifice is often over-looked in play because, unlike more obvious sacrifices it rarely leads to immediate victory or even to victory at all. In many cases the exchange sacrifice is made and the game continues for many more moves with perhaps just some positional compensation for the sacrificed material. This book, part self-test part game collection, contains 220 examples of games featuring exchange sacrifices. In the test games (about half the total number) the reader has to find the best continuation from the position after the sacrifice. Solutions are provided at the end. Other chapters examine the role of the exchange sacrifice in the play of former world champions Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer and typical exchange sacrifices in the Sicilian Defense and other openings.