We cannot resist the fascination of sacrifice, since a passion for sacrifices is part of a Chessplayer's nature.
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[Event "rated untimed match"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "White player"] [Black "Black player"] [Result "*"] [Annotator "David Hayes"] [BlackElo "0"] [FEN "8/8/8/3N4/2Pk4/8/8/7K w - - 0 1"] [SetUp "1"] [TimeControl "0"] [WhiteElo "0"] { Holding the Win.|White to move and win.|The black king is attacking the pawn, and will win it if white does not protect it. If the pawn falls, then a draw results, because a king and knight alone is not sufficient material to checkmate a lone king. } 1. Ne3 { This is the correct way for a knight to hold a pawn from behind until a king can assist its advance. } ( { Instead, if the knight holds the pawn from the front, then a draw results. } 1. Nb6 Kc5 2. Kg2 Kxb6 3. Kf3 Kc5 4. Ke3 Kxc4 { Draw. } ) 1... Kc5 { The black king can only guard against the advance of the dangerous pawn. } ( { The knight is immune: } 1... Kxe3 2. c5 Kd4 3. c6 Kd5 4. c7 Kd6 5. c8=Q { White wins with a large material advantage. } ) 2. Kg2 { The white king will approach and drive off black from his guard post. Then the pawn will advance to promotion. The rest of the moves are shown without comment to demonstrate the relatively simple technique. } 2... Kd4 3. Kf3 Kc5 4. Ke4 Kc6 5. Kd4 Kd6 6. c5+ Kc6 7. Nc4 Kd7 8. Kd5 Ke8 9. Kd6 Kd8 10. c6 Kc8 11. c7 Kb7 12. Kd7 Ka6 13. c8=Q+ Ka7 14. Qc7+ Ka8 15. Nb6# *