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Subject: Re: Can any program reproduce the closing moves of the evergreen game?

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 14:10:40 12/16/98

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On December 15, 1998 at 22:35:46, Dann Corbit wrote:

>On December 15, 1998 at 22:18:58, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>No.. wrong term.  "combination" is what you are looking for.  "sacrifice"
>>usually means offering something where you get nothing *tangible* back.  IE
>>sacrifice the exchange to get pressure in the center that may or may not win
>>later on.  The above is not a sac, because you get more back than you invest,
>>ie you give up the queen, but win the game...
>All true sacrifices lose then, or they are merely illusions?  If the sacrifice
>somehow wins in the long run, then it is just pushed out farther, but there was
>some benefit.  If the sacrifice does not win anything at all and you lose the
>game, then its value is questionable at best.  What you are describing sounds
>more like a gambit to me.  I suppose my terms are all wrong, but I have always
>thought that on any two plies, if you toss out a bigger piece for a smaller one,
>then it is a sacrifice.  Is there some "official" definition of what a sacrifice
>is?


I differentiate between the two types of sacrifices... one is a sacrifice that
loses, one that wins.  But the win is so far in the future the sacrifice is made
on "speculative" grounds.  If you play Qxg8 Rxg7 Nf7#, the qxg8 losing the
queen is not a sacrifice at all.  Because I will trade 10 dollar bills for 20
dollar bills all day long.  But would you trade a 10 dollar bill for a 5 dollar
bill + something else that may or may not be worth anything?

That's a sacrifice IMHO...



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