Take My Rooks

The two Rook sacrifice is one of the most thrilling themes in chess. And when it works, it's triumph of mind over matter. When it doesn't, at least the game is over quickly! The authors have painstakingly researched the chess archives to find examples of these classic double-rook sacrifices. Starting with the Immortal Game, the authors systematically show the situations necessary for this sacrifice. Algebraic notation, 112 pages. (I.C.E., 1991).

Yasser Seirawan, in introducing the double rook sacrifice, urges readers to "lose yourself in fantasy" as playing this scenario is akin to entering "a dream world, a world of fantasy where [the player] may come out a magician." Certainly it's a daring approach, requiring the player to give up more than a queen's worth of value. But Seirawan and coauthor Nikolay Minev have collected 136 games--far more than the 20-some that usually appear when the double-rook sacrifice is discussed--that beautifully illustrate where and why the tactic may work so dramatically, as well as where and why it may end in disaster.