Bullet Chess #13: How to Lose Your Queen and Win the Game

It feels so satisfying when you sacrifice your queen and win the game in the end. But queen sacrifices shouldn't really be an unusual thing in chess. What matters is not necessarily how many pieces you have on the board or even how much those pieces are worth numerically. Rather what matters is how you use those pieces strategically.

In this game, I made a decision to give up my queen and rook in exchange for my opponent's knight and two rooks. Crazy, I know. I didn't know what was going to be the outcome. I didn't calculate the lines following the queen sacrifice so as to determine whether it would be good or not. This is a bullet game after all. I just went with it instinctively. And I was going to wing it after that. But at the time, it felt right to sac the queen and a rook despite the seemingly overwhelming odds.

What was going through my mind was the fact that my pieces were placed in good squares and I didn't have any glaring structural weaknesses. I would be able to get rid of the threat of the rook battery on the c-file as well which was a plus. If you were to ask me whether it was a good decision or not, I cannot readily or even conclusively tell. The computer says that I was slightly better after all the exchanges but what really determined the outcome of the game were the moves that followed the queen sacrifice.

After 23... Rc8, I felt that I had a good position. All my pieces were connected and defended more importantly. My lone rook was able to take control of the open c-file. If my opponent had seen the threat that was to come, perhaps this game would have been more difficult. But he underestimated what I had at my disposal. The seemingly normal move Ne4 and the one before that, Qd6 were actually inaccurate and if you look at the game, you'll see why.

First of all, the queen wasn't threatening anything on d6. The bishop on b6 is protected by the knight on d7. The knights protect each other and the bishop double protects the knight on d7 and it is protected by a pawn. My rook is the only unprotected piece but at the moment, there were no threats against it. Furthermore, my plan was simple. Take control of the c-file and invade his territory with the rook. So the plan commenced.

After Qd6 and Ne4, the computer evaluates the position as winning for Black. The king lost one of its defenders, the knight, and the queen is just too far to come to the king's aid. The only piece that can protect it is the bishop. But I also have my own bishop which would soon add pressure to his pinned bishop. We exchanged knights but that only helps me all the more since I wouldn't have to worry about any tricks or checks that would give my opponent time to recuperate.

Rc1+ and then Bf1 soon followed by an exchange of the knights and Ba3 seals the deal. The only thing White could do was delay the inevitable with Qd1. However, it was only a matter of time before the king would be checkmated. Qd1, Rxd1, e3, and the finale, Rxf1#.

It was a nice game overall. I honestly didn't expect things would go that way but I'm happy that it did because I'm able to write about it. Check out the whole game below.