{"schema":"chessgrammar_motif_entry/1","slug":"sacrifice","name":"Sacrifice","aka":null,"category":{"key":"sacrifice","label":"Sacrifice"},"edition":{"version":"v3.0","year":"2026"},"certified":false,"canonical":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/sacrifice","tabs":{"identity":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/sacrifice#identity","structure":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/sacrifice#structure","examples":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/sacrifice#examples"},"citation":"ChessGrammar (2026). Sacrifice. In: ChessGrammar: A reference for chess concepts, Tactics grammar, edition v3.0. Entry cg:sacrifice@1. https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/sacrifice","variants":[],"seeAlso":[],"definition":{"id":"cg:sacrifice@1","statement":"A move gives up material relative to the fullest sequence of exchanges available on the square it touches. It either captures into a net loss or offers a piece for a profitable capture while giving check.","predicate":["The move gives up material on the board relative to the fullest exchange sequence available where it lands. The count includes the piece taken at once, if any, and everything that follows until both sides finish trading on that square.","This happens in one of two ways. In the first, the move is itself a capture whose full exchange sequence nets a loss for the side that just played it. This is a piece or exchange sacrifice. In the second, the move is not a capture. It gives check and walks a piece worth at least a minor piece onto a square where the opponent has a legal and profitable capture. This sacrifice is offered, not forced.","The king itself is never the sacrificed piece: a check delivered by the king does not count, whatever square it lands on."],"diagnosis":"The nearest counter-case depends on whether anything answers the move profitably. If nothing recaptures, or if every recapture nets the capturing side less than the piece it would win, the same move is a normal capture or a check. No material is given up, and this attribute does not apply.","maturity":{"state":"stable"},"holotype":{"fen":"k7/8/2p5/3n4/8/8/8/K2R4 w - - 0 1","move":"d1d5","san":"Rxd5","mover":"d1","to":"d5","why":"White's rook captures the knight on d5. The only black piece covering that square, the pawn on c6, recaptures immediately. White has deliberately traded a rook for a knight, a net loss under the fullest exchange the square allows."},"nearMiss":{"fen":"k7/8/8/3n4/8/8/8/K2R4 w - - 0 1","move":"d1d5","san":"Rxd5","mover":"d1","to":"d5","delta":"the black pawn on c6, the only piece able to recapture on d5, removed from the board, with White's move unchanged","why":"The only piece able to recapture on d5, the black pawn on c6, is removed from the board. Everything else, including White's move, is unchanged. Rxd5 now wins the knight, and nothing is left to answer it. The move is a free capture, not a voluntary loss.","neighbour":"none"},"nearMissPending":null,"standing":{"certified":false,"scope":"definition"}},"axes":[],"summary":"A move gives up material, judged by the full sequence of exchanges on the square it touches."}