The Art of Sacrifice in Chess (Dover Chess) [Paperback]

Rudolf Spielmann (Author)

Book Description

Series: Dover Chess | Publication Date: November 2, 2011

A Grandmaster shares secrets from 40 years of tournament play, outlining hard-won lessons that enable players to win games by giving up pieces. The first systematic attempt to explain and exploit the theory of chess sacrifice, this guide remains an extremely helpful weapon in the arsenal of players at every level.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications (November 2, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486284492
• ISBN-13: 978-0486284491
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An exiciting attacker's combat handbook for chess warriors!!, October 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Art of Sacrifice in Chess (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

Rudolph Spielmann's book is a fascinating insight into the thinking that inspires successful attacking play. Spielmann, an Austrian master, was considered of the most ferocious attackers of his days in the 1920's. His style of play is strikingly similar to the celebrated Mikhail Tal. If Alexei Shirov is today considered the descendant of Tal, then Spielmann should be considered his forerunner. Spielmann's philosophy was total distain of material in pursuit of the greater goal of mating the king. His book gives numerous examples of his play and would recommend this book to anyone who loves Tal. The book contains complete games played by Spielmann against some of the leading players of his time and is grouped into thematic chapters. The only slight drawback is the book is in the descriptive notation but this a small price to pay for this frank and personal insight into the mind of an attacking genius.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Your most typical types of Sacrifices will be found in this book, September 27, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Art of Sacrifice in Chess (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

This is a classic! Speilmann presents numerous sacrifices by theme and gives agreat examples. This book has stood the test of time and is still worthwhile to get. Perfect books to compliment this are "Art of Attack in Chess" and "Winning Chess Traps: Tactics in the Opening". All three of these books will give you exactly what you need to be fully covered when it comes to fully understanding everything to do with Attacking Chess and Sacrificing!

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is not another "hacking" manual, but gives ideas about how to think about sacrificing., February 16, 2006

By 

Andre E. Harding (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Sacrifice in Chess (Dover Chess) (Paperback)

Rudolf Spielmann's work is not perfect, but if read in the right frame-of-mind can be an extremely rewarding read.

This is not a manual on the mechanics of kingside attacks, in the vein of Vukovic's "Art of Attack in Chess," or Znosko-Borovsky's "The Art of Chess Combination." Neither is it a tactical workbook, such as Fred Reinfeld's works or Fred Wilson's works or, for that matter, Laszlo Polgar's magnum opus "Chess: 5,334 Problems, Combinations, and Games." Every one of those books/authors mentioned is worth reading, but this is a DIFFERENT KIND of work.

The book that readily comes to mind as being in the same "family" as this work is Tal and Damsky's "Attack with Mikhail Tal," but unlike that (masterpiece!) Spielmann's work does not require a Master's Degree in Attacking Chess! :-)

Now that I've compared "The Art of Sacrifice in Chess" to other types of attacking books you may be thinking of purchasing, let me finally speak about the book itself!

Yes, Spielmann's choice of classification and terminology may be called into question, but that does not in any way detract from the book itself. What Spielmann does in this book better than any other intermediate book I can think of, is reveal HOW THE SACRIFICE AFFECTS THE REMAINING PIECES ON THE ATTACKING AND DEFENDING SIDES! For example, one of his games begins 1.e4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5 Nfd7 and now Spielmann plays 4.e6!? After 4...fxe6, Spielmann brilliantly demonstrates (through his play and especially through the annotations!) how White was able to win the game by constricting the Black forces behind the e-pawns on e7,e6. The line of thinking runs: if there is a pawn on e6 (extra though it may be), the bishop on c8 cannot really come out, which in turn entombs the rook on a8! There are other similar examples of this thought process throughout the book. You will also notice how, for example, minor piece sacrifices in the center suddenly cause the attacking side's rooks and queen to spring to life with decisive force!

Many of the examples in the book are complex, but in nearly all cases you can see Spielmann's THOUGHT PROCESS, and you understand why he made the decisions he made. To me this book has a lot of value, and thank goodness it is a departure from all those insipid Morphy games with "sac, sac, mate" on f7 against an uncastled king.