Game Analysis

In the game below, I thought everything was going well until (8. Bxf7) happened. From there, I was terribly out of position and unprotected. Can anyone see what I might have done differently (either before or after (8. Bxf7))?

Also, has anyone else actually had luck for sacrificing a bishop for a pawn to weaken the opponent's position?

Game 2908555

You are up material after the bishop sac. You should concentrate on getting your king safe and then use your advantage.

Something like Be7, Re8 and then Kg8.

Self-Castling and you should be okay.

You seem to forget about development and start playing with your few pieces that were out there already, Queen and knight.

Yes, somewhere around move 4 or 5 you should have traded your knight for his e pawn, so he takes with his knight, then played d4 and forked the knight and bishop.

Thematically I think your main problem was your failure to activate your bishops .. probably because you panicked. In future if someone plays a bishop sac like this you have to think to yourself "that was a terrible mistake, i will now win the game, all i have to do is hold my advantage by developing my pieces and getting my king to safety" .. even if the sacrifice is sound this attitude will help you find the right moves. At least half of the value in a sacrifice like this is the psychological impact that it makes.

That said, on to particular moves...

Ba6 would have moved the rook off of the same file as your king

You missed the tactical 10. .. d5 threatening to skewer the white queen but even after 10. .. c5 11. Qe3 you have the opportunity to play Ba6/Bb7 then Be7 planning on manually castling the king, As it was it took until move 16 to get a bishop off its start square

You also had the threat of pushing the d pawn to d4 if he plays e5

You actually have a strike opportunity after the gambit.

After he takes your gambit with move 8b, attack his knight with pawn to e5. This removes the guard on the d5 square. Then on move 10w. queen to d5+ forking his rook and king.

Originally posted by wittywonka

Also, has anyone else actually had luck for sacrificing a bishop for a pawn to weaken the opponent's position?

No commenting on this for a little while, because the game is still in progress, but I did just recently try a bishop sacrifice and I think it has worked out quite nicely, although the result remains to be seen. He is playing a bit sloppy I think, so not sure whether it was truly sound or not.

Game 3198023

Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
No commenting on this for a little while, because the game is still in progress, but I did just recently try a bishop sacrifice and I think it has worked out quite nicely, although the result remains to be seen. He is playing a bit sloppy I think, so not sure whether it was truly sound or not.

Game 3198023

Finished the game, feel free to comment, it worked out quite well, but I'm still not sure if it was sound.

Originally posted by UmbrageOfSnow
Finished the game, feel free to comment, it worked out quite well, but I'm still not sure if it was sound.

Maybe it worked and maybe not. Its hard to tell really because black played so poorly.