Here is a game I played yesterday that pleased me really well. Well, it was a sloppy game as all my games tend to be, but I was able to do the things that I've always tried to do in chess games nowadays. Namely sacrifice material in pursuit of an attack. This game contains two of them. One is a silent sacrifice 10.Bb5+ that really gave me satisfaction. I just hung a piece and all he had to do was take it, and he'll be up a piece. Of course if he did, I'll get a mating attack. Nyahahaha!!! The other one was a knight for two pawns and the attack.

However I blundered and threw away my queen. I was ready to resign and was just playing a little bit more. But my opponent just couldn't get anything going. All of a sudden, I had him in a mating attack - but he found this saving move and just when I thought I was lost, I found this beautiful mate. Its a standard mate but I found it so attractive because its like a CTS problem and I found it. Man, I found a mate. ^^

(Btw: My opponent made all these pawn moves in the opening that made it easy for me to launch a sacrificial attack. But I wonder what's the name of this opening)

The above highlights the type of game I find most appealing. A free flowing game with tactical opportunities by the dozen - particularly one that allows me to sacrifice material. And lately thats all I've been trying to do: look for sacrificial opportunities.

I find sacrifices and its conception strangely addicting. The terms "two pawns and an attack" sounds music to my ears. When I'm doing it I'm slightly afraid, and slightly worried. Its like riding a roller coaster. And besides all those tactical problems I'm solving seems like a waste if I don't try and apply them in real games.

(From the very first time I started playing, it was burned on my skull that losing material means losing the game. So I find it really hard to sacrifice even now. To be down material for an extended period of time without any apparent compensation gets on my nerves)

Previously all I'm looking for was to win a pawn and go to a favorable endgame. But it dawned on me: I'm solving all those problems, training so hard - all for one measly pawn? To be so happy for so little? No thank you.

So I turned to sacrificial play. I think it is where my imagination and tactical ability will be tested, and allowed to grow.

I think this is the next step in tactical growth. The application of tactics requires a different kind of training than just solving exercises. It requires you bloody your hands and try to make tactics appear in games.

Harmony, Sacrifice, Tactics..

Things like these.. are not found in pawn up end games.