Giving up the queen - to deliver checkmate or to save a draw

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
9/18/2024 – Sacrificing a queen is one of the most rewarding manoeuvres in chess. Such a drastic measure is often connected to a forcing sequence, which either delivers checkmate quickly or allows us to escape with a draw. In the first half of the Chess Olympiad, we saw both cases appear on the board in important matches of the open section. Arjun Erigaisi, who is on fire in Budapest, gave up his queen to checkmate Peter Prohaszka, while Valentin Dragnev (pictured) found a way to force a repetition by giving up his queen in his game against Jan-Krzysztof Duda. | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza
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Arjun and Dragnev give up their queens

The man of the hour, Arjun Erigaisi, has won all 6 of his games so far in Budapest. In round 3, playing white against Peter Prohaszka (Hungary 2), the 21-year-old had all his pieces pointing at the black king - and got to end the game in style.

Arjun Erigaisi

Arjun Erigaisi | Photo: FIDE / Michal Walusza

In round 6, the last one before the rest day, Austria (seeded 31st) drew Poland (11th) on all four boards to collect a valuable match point. Vladimir Dragnev had the tough task of playing black against elite-GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda on the top board. In a late middlegame position with a queen, a rook and two minor pieces per side, the Polish grandmaster had an extra pawn and a clear advantage.

But Dragnev never stopped looking for ways to create complications - and a single mistake by Duda allowed him to force a draw by giving up his queen!

Vladimir Dragnev, Richard Rapport

Vladimir Dragnev has a 4/6 score so far in the event - in round 3, he held a draw against another super-GM, Hungary's Richard Rapport | Photo: FIDE / Maria Emelianova

IM Robert Ris analyses Arjun v. Prohaszka

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.