There are many concepts that exist as a barrier between the average club player and a representative of the master class. One of these is the mysterious positional sacrifice, i.e. a sacrifice in the long term. On the other hand, there is the short-term sacrifice, where you play for attack in the hope of either giving mate or winning material. Long-term sacrifices are more difficult to assess, as the compensation seems less tangible. Many players also find it difficult to play with a material deficit over a longer period of time. The fear of never seeing the valuable material again is perceived as a burden. On the other hand, there is the following realization:
The unwillingness to sacrifice in the long term leads to a sensitive restriction of the scope of action on different levels.
The first level concerns positions in which the sacrifice is optional, i.e. equivalent to the non-sacrifice. Basically, from a practical point of view, the sacrifice is preferable to the non-sacrifice, as it puts the opponent under pressure. It is easier to play with the initiative than to defend. Firstly, as the defender you have to do more calculation and secondly, mistakes have greater consequences. This leads to fear and this in turn leads to emotional, i.e. suboptimal decisions. Far more important, however, are the cases in which the positional sacrifice is significantly stronger than conservative options. Although actually forced, the positional sacrifice is often rejected or in many cases not even perceived as an option (filtered out on a subconscious level).
The aim of the seminar is to give the participants access to the category of forced, i.e. easy to play positional sacrifices. This is a realistic claim. To this end, the following topics will be covered:
- Examination of materialism in chess
- Presentation of a holistic value system
- Categorization of sacrifices according to difficulty
- Categorization of sacrifices according to compensation type