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Low rated player trying to understand tactical/positional sacrifice

Hello Lichess,

I was analyzing my last game and look at the strong but bad teacher that is the analysis.
And he was screaming at me to sacrifice the exchange at some point. I believed him and try to look at some variations that I did not see in game ... of course the position always end up to be really really good.

But with all my little knowledge and my best attempt at calculation, I can not find a way to learn from that.
If i encounter this kind of position again, how can I push myself to go for it ?
To be honnest I had considered the sacrifice in game (because it was a capture and I tried to look for it as I was been told ^^) but nothing looked appealing (the heart of my problem.)

I'm sure some stronger player will understand the analysis and will sacrifice in game with no trouble. So, I'm asking those awesome player ; can you try to explain why it's so obvious for you ? What's catching your keen eyes ?

Thanx.

PS : Here's the position : fr.lichess.org/GBUkI3sQ/white#40
I think this is more a tactical idea than a positional one.

In this position these factors could make you go for sacrifice:

a) Bishop seems to be the best piece on the board for Black and the main protector of the king's castle. It also blocks your rooks on the e-file.
b) Queen is positioned on the same diagonal with the king. So the sacrifice could be followed by some attack on the king.
c) In addition you can get some pawns on the way (b7, f7) in case something goes wrong, you won't be suffering materially too much, but this is debatable.
d) You've got a light square bishop and by eliminating his you might be able to hit hard on the light squares.

That said, this sacrifice is not so simple at all. First thing I've noticed — there's this annoying c4 move throttling the attack, but it turns out after Qxb7 Qxb7 Bxb7 Black can't get my rook (because Ra8 is attacked and after Rb8 there's Re7 saving the rook and the bishop).
Then, after Black recaptures fxe6, taking with the queen or the rook immediately doesn't lead anywhere because the queen can block on f7. SF prepares the capture with first bringing the knight into attack with tempo — Nb5, then the light-square with Bh3. After that Black's king will be too exposed on the light squares and the rook on h8 will be taking the best square the king could hide on, so a weakening g6 move will be necessary.

So you see it's tactically justified, but I believe it's not that easy to spot all those ideas as you don't win back material right away. But the factors I've mentioned should definitely make you look into this sacrifice closer.

Well thanx, I wasn't even sure that this position was first tactical. (If it was ; I would have say to myself "I need to train more on puzzles." And go on with my day.)
But seeing all this juicy variations, I was suspecting some kind of positional concept that I could take from that game, beyond calculation.

I should give more credits to those 4 concepts that you have underline. Because it seems that I can spot a) and d) easily in my games. But don't give them the priority over material. They generaly just help me establishing some plans. But apparently, they can be critical.

b) should be spoted as easily, but I confess I didn't in this game, (of course I just need to continue training my eyes to correct that problem.)

And at last c), to be honest I choosed not to consider it because one or two pawns - to compensate the rook for the bishop - is genarally not enough for me to be confortable with in the ending phase. So whenever I see c) it's just "no no no" in my head. And it's bad because it could be a legitimate factor in the decision as you shown it.

So, yeah, I should be careful with my priorities :)

Thanx again to make me think of it the right way.
it is quite easy to spot: you give 1 pawn for a piece worth of compensation you get every piece active and can start posing some real threaths
You're down material, your queen is attacked and black has a pawn majority on the queen side. All black needs is to activate the h rook and the position is probably lost for white. Even if the sac weren't objectively good, you need to go for it anyways. After black recaptures you give a check and takes the initiative. The white squares will be a huge problem for black and the rook on h8 will be sleeping there for some time, which is like playing down a piece, not to mention the isolated pawns on the queen side. I'm not saying it's easy to play such a move, but a strong player would definitely consider it mostly for practical reasons.
Sure it's easy to spot, it's not easy to see it's winning or even favorable and it isn't unless you follow it up with Nb5! if you just take twice on e6 you've got an imbalanced position that could go either way.
So in a practical game without knowing you have a winning tactic you see Rxe6 and calculate it to the best of your ability and then decide if that offers you the best chances or some other move does.

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