Customer Reviews

Essential Chess Sacrifices

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This book picks up where Lemoirs earlier book left off. The author categorizes thematic sacrifices based on the squares they occur. He starts of on the left side of the board with Nxb5 and Bxb5 sacrifices which occur in the sicilian. Then he moves on to d5 and and f5 sacrifices of the knight in the sicilian, then to Bishop or Knight sacrifices on e6 in the sicilian. Then the author moves onto Nxf7 and Nxg7 sacrifices. The book ends with Ng5 and Bg5 silent sacrifices on g5 and the Greek gift sacrifice that we have all seen Bxh7 check and the double bishop sacrifice. This book sums up all the standard sacrifices and the setup positions leading up to them that produce the sacrifices. It is a good book to read, so that you dont get caught on the wrong end of one of these setup positions. However, even Grandmasters have fallen for these standard sacrifices so you might be able to try it on your next opponent. Since this is a tactics book, most of the positions are do or die for the sacrificer instead of the positional rxc3 sacrifices you see in the sicilian.

I have had a great deal of enjoyment playing through the sacrifices in this book. LeMoir writes in engaging style, there are loads of diagrams, and he proceeds much deeper than merely cataloguing the standard piece sacs. The setting where each sacrifice would be sound or unsound is identified, and he discussed at length possible defensive ideas, and attacking follow-ups.
Most of the games are complete (rather than starting from a diagram position). In this book that is a real bonus, as it allows the reader to put the sacrifice in the context of the opening. In their review of this book the chess specialist Chessco called this "the definitive and the BEST word on the subject" and it is hard to disagree. True, sacrifices are only part of the game of chess, but if you are looking to add axcitment to your games, then this is book to get.

This is a comprehensive study of chess sacs that occur time and time again. Rather than analyzing brilliant sac players like Tal on a game-by-game basis, this focuses on sacs that occur on certain squares: in effect, the geography of effective sacrifices. One common example is the bishop x h7+ sac, but LeMoir covers lots of powerful storm-the-barricade plays as well as the defenses against them, the follow-ups leading to their success and the positional ideas from which they spring.

One important quibble: these are bishop and knight sacs, so ideas like the c8 rook x c3 knight in several lines of the Sicilian are not covered. Maybe Mr. LeMoir will write a sequel covering major piece sacs.

Overall, this is a refreshing and useful book, perfectly suited to intermediate players or even lower-rated players tired of seeing their sac attempts refuted.

For more on these issues at the club player level, see Attacking Technique by Crouch, Storming the Barricades by Christiansen, and LeMoir's other books -- How to Be Lucky in Chess (more about defense than attack) and How to Become a Deadly Chess Tactician.

Having enjoyed (and reviewed on Amazon) David LeMoir's second book - HOW TO BECOME A DEADLY CHESS TACTICIAN - I decided to invest in his third book. I have always considered myself a bit of a sacrifical hacker (at least that is what I tell my chess friends whenever I lose something for nothing).
In my view this is LeMoir's best book yet.
First it is again a Gambit book, meaning it is no frivolous tome. It covers the most common and fundamental piece sacrifices, deeply researched and properly catalogued. As an example, chapter one covers knight sacrifices with the move Nxb5 in the Sicilian. Example after example illustrates the pros and cons of each particular version of the sacrifice. An action packed 9 pages, 9 games and 1 exercise later we get to chapter two, the sac Bxb5 in the Sicilian. The quality of examples chosen is outstanding, and the comprehensive index (by player and opening) makes it clear just how much research has gone into the book.

Having enjoyed (and reviewed on Amazon) David LeMoir's second book - HOW TO BECOME A DEADLY CHESS TACTICIAN - I decided to invest in his third book. I have always considered myself a bit of a sacrifical hacker (at least that is what I tell my chess friends whenever I lose something for nothing).
In my view this is LeMoir's best book yet.
First it is again a Gambit book, meaning it is no frivolous tome. It covers the most common and fundamental piece sacrifices, deeply researched and properly catalogued. As an example, chapter one covers knight sacrifices with the move Nxb5 in the Sicilian. Example after example illustrates the pros and cons of each particular version of the sacrifice. An action packed 9 pages, 9 games and 1 exercise later we get to chapter two, the sac Bxb5 in the Sicilian. The quality of examples chosen is outstanding, and the comprehensive index (by player and opening) makes it clear just how much research has gone into the book.

This book is ok if you are an expert or above. I am an improving player, but a lot of this stuff was way above my head. Not quite Dvorstky, but close. A couple of the combos are ok, but some of them come off as simple tricks. Me and a couple of my pals have gotten "creamed" by the better players. His first book was better and a little easier to follow. But, overall it is ok for reference. I picked up this one, storming the brigades, and attacking technique. I ended up trading chess sacrifices for the art of attack.

I've bought this book a while ago and only started going through it very recently. One thing I've noticed is that only White seems to have all the fun (all the sacrifices are performed by White). Am I missing something? Does one just have to kinda "reverse" the position, enabling Black to execute the same sacrifes? It's possible (I'm only rated around 1700 ELO), but if so, why doesn't the author mention this then?