Positional Piece Sacrifices: From the Exchange to the Queen

Volume 1 of the series dealt with pawns. This one raises the stakes. In his short introduction Kavutskiy lays out the route: “We’re going to start with Exchange Sacrifices, which are definitely the most common Positional Sacrifices,” then move through piece sacrifices, piece versus pawns, rook sacrifices “and of course everyone’s favorite, Positional Queen Sacrifices.” The order makes sense — you meet the exchange sacrifice in almost every opening, while a true positional queen sacrifice appears only a few times in a career.

What links all positional piece sacrifices in the course is the kind of payment you get back: domination, a colour complex, the bishop pair, an open file, a passed pawn or a king that can never feel safe. The official Chess University curriculum mirrors the folder exactly — three chapters, a classics section, modern brilliancies and a bonus pack of annotated games and exercises. If you want the pawn half of the theme first, start with Positional Sacrifices Vol. 1: Pawns; both volumes are listed in our chess courses list.

What Positional Piece Sacrifices Buy You

A fast tour of the classics

The course opens with a 47-minute sweep through famous positional sacrifices, deliberately kept to “around 60 to 90 seconds” per game so you see the key idea without a full replay. It starts with Tarrasch’s 1887 rook sacrifice on f3, now a standard theme in the French Defence, and includes Polugaevsky’s rook sacrifice against Torre, where a single pawn on e7 shuts Black’s kingside pieces out of the game.

Six faces of the exchange sacrifice

Chapter 1 is the heart of the course. The thematic Rxf6 in Scheveningen-type Sicilians comes first, then domination: Petrosian’s trademark exchange sacrifices and Kasparov’s Rxb7 against Shirov from 1994. Keres’ …Be5, fighting for the dark squares instead of saving the rook, leads the colour-complex lesson, followed by Carlsen giving up the exchange to own every light square. The bishop-pair lesson shows two bishops and a pawn outplaying rook and knight even in a closed position, and the endgame part includes a Capablanca ending where the king and knight take over after …Rxd4. The chapter closes with double exchange sacrifices, from Timman vs Van Wely to Shirov’s two rook offers against Lautier.

Minor pieces: open files and piece versus pawns

Chapter 2 separates true positional piece sacrifices — a knight or bishop given up to open a file or fix the structure — from the more common piece-for-two-pawns trade. Botvinnik’s Nxf5 against Pachman in a King’s Indian is the model for the second type of positional piece sacrifices, and it comes with a practical rule: when you have the pawns, don’t push them until you can support the advance.

Rooks and queens: how to judge a big investment

True positional rook sacrifices are rare, and the course says so. Kavutskiy shows that they almost always come with passed pawns or with such restriction of the enemy pieces that an attack follows later — Karpov’s pawn on e7 against Hübner is the main example. The queen lessons are the most practical part of the chapter: since you can never calculate a queen sacrifice to the end, he gives you the elements to look for when you evaluate one. The last part, queen versus two minor pieces, opens with Nezhmetdinov’s famous Qxf6, where bishop and knight dominate thanks to the d5 square and the target on f6.

Modern brilliancies

The final lesson asks which elite player has produced the most interesting exchange sacrifices in recent years, and answers Levon Aronian — starting with the exchange sacrifice on f3 that he prepared at home in a Queen’s Gambit Declined for his 2011 game against Anish Giri. Nakamura and Carlsen games show how today’s top players use the same patterns from the classics section.

Positional Piece Sacrifices: Full Course Index

Who Should Study Positional Piece Sacrifices

• Players who already know Vol. 1 and want the material sacrifices that go beyond a pawn.
• Sicilian, French and King’s Indian players — the thematic exchange sacrifices in Chapter 1 come straight from these openings.
• Positional players who freeze at “the exchange” and need a clear framework for when rook-for-minor-piece is worth it.
• Fans of Petrosian, Kasparov and Aronian who want their signature sacrifices explained in context.

If the exchange sacrifice is the only theme you care about, a narrower course such as The Art of the Exchange Sacrifice goes deeper on that single idea. Beginners will get more from a general sacrifice course before this one.

Vol. 2 FAQ

Can I start with Vol. 2 without Vol. 1?

Yes. The two volumes share a format but not material. Vol. 1 is about positional pawn sacrifices; this volume starts fresh with the exchange and goes up to the queen. Some recurring themes — colour complexes, domination, open lines — will feel familiar if you have seen both.

Which positional piece sacrifices get the most attention?

The exchange sacrifice. It has six of the eleven chapter lessons, because, in the coach’s words, it is the most common positional sacrifice you will meet over the board.

What do I receive and how fast?

15 MP4 lessons, a PGN for each lesson, the bonus annotated games, the exercise and solution PGNs and a summary PDF. Digital files. Crypto payment only. Fast delivery is handled manually after payment confirmation. Download links remain available for 7 days; save your files locally.