What a game!!

I've been spending a bit of time studying recently and came across this game by Gelfand. Check out the Queen sacrifice!

Not too sure if many of us would not seriously consider Qxc2.
I would hope so anyway. It does appear to be the best move.


True Qxc2 is not a run of the mill Queen sac (usually most kick off a mating
attack) and all White gets for it is a Bishop with 3 three pawns already in the bag.

Any King moves and White will be looking at Nxe3 tricks against him.
Possibly OK but the Queen sac stops the attack and with that big d-pawn,
draughty King (after Bg7-d4). the total grip on the centre and the complete
lack of co-ordination in the Black camp then it must be the way to go.

White's play after the sac is good and instructive but, without trying to put
the game down, the moves were fairly straitforward to see coming and play.

Can Black's play be improved upon after the Queen sac?

The only tricks White need look out for is for Black saccing his Queen back
or throwing Rooks at minor pieces to get some central squares but I cannot
see any way for Black to hold that position.
(Neither could Gelfand, these good guys do not sac their Queens for unclear
positions unless they are absoluetly forced to.)

Originally posted by greenpawn34
Not too sure if many of us would not seriously consider Qxc2.
I would hope so anyway. It does appear to be the best move.

[fen]r1r3k1/p4pBp/1q4p1/1P1P1b2/2B3n1/1PN1PN2/2n2PPP/R2QK2R w KQ - 0 19[/fen]
True Qxc2 is not a run of the mill Queen sac (usually most kick off a mating
attack) and all White gets for it is a Bishop with 3 three pawns already ...[text shortened]... good guys do not sac their Queens for unclear
positions unless they are absoluetly forced to.)

I would have tried 25. ... Qxd6 and accepted the loss of the N after e5. Still a difficult game, but it gets rid of White's passer.

Originally posted by moonbus
I would have tried 25. ... Qxd6 and accepted the loss of the N after e5. Still a difficult game, but it gets rid of White's passer.

Why doesn't black take the pawn at move 25?

Originally posted by vivify
Why doesn't black take the pawn at move 25?

On here one should go for unclear Queen sacs.
The games really mean nothing other than entertainment.

Here I sacced my Queen for two bits because we were disccussing Queen sacs in another thread.

So have fun. If you lose, you can hold up your head.
If you win then post away and do not be afraid to fly off on a fantasy trip
in the notes to show some ideas you had.

Notes based on what I recall thinking/seeing at the time.