Not anticipating Rook and Queen sacrifices

Having reviewed many games of Masters throughout every era, I'm surprised how many games suddenly end due to a player not anticipating a Rook or Queen sacrifice by their opponent. Any ideas why this occurs and how to avoid making these mistakes?

But if top players can and do make Rook and Queen sacrifices themselves, why are they so poor at anticipating their opponent making such a sacrifice?

Untill you show concrete game our conversation will be pointless.

How about a game where a player (Alekhine, playing Black) sacrificed both Rooks and his Queen, then promoted a Pawn to a Queen, sacrificed it, promoted another Pawn to a Queen, sacrificed it, and was advancing another Pawn to make a new Queen (his fourth) when his opponent resigned.

His opponent was Bogoljubow, who played in matches for the World Chess Championship title in 1929 and 1934, losing both times.

have you got any specific examples that you’re thinking of? It’s true that Queen and rook sacs do end games but for every example you’re seeing there are many more games where the opponent would have anticipated the sac, took preventative measures and so you wouldn’t end up seeing those games (most of the time)

But generally speaking it’s easier to find tactics than anticipate them, but let’s see some examples so we can determine if the opponent really did miss the idea or not.

Here is a recent game with a Rook sacrificed by capturing a pawn on move #32. Was that missed by MVL?

It was a rapid game, so on move 32 they were probably very low on time. Yes, MVL probably just missed it. It's quite complicated.

Hard to say if the move was missed outright, possible as it was in a rapid game, but I’d say more likely is that he had seen whites idea of Rxc5 and was aware it needed to be looked at but forgot to check it every move, or just looked at it superficially and assumed he’d be able to play …Nxd7 recapture at the end of the line, then realising that’s not possible once white actually made the sac.

Another game. Classical. Move #18. Why wasn't Black's f-pawn defended against a potential rook sacrifice?

That’s another one where he might or might not have missed the move (just checked the engine and it says position still equal after the sac) so he may have wanted to provoke the sac to unbalance the game (the onus is then on white to prove compensation), but overestimated his ability to solve the arising practical problems, and Robson is obviously a very dangerous attacker.

Look at the threats of the White bishop and Queen at the time of the sac. The sac brings the King out in the open and is pushed across the board by a series of checks by the White bishop and queen. How did Black not calculate that?

Move #31 Why didn't black defend the hanging b-pawn?

The sac isn't a forced win for white though, Black went wrong later on as can be seen from the analysis. I wasn't the one playing the game so obviously I can't say, I'm just presenting an alternative scenario where Black did in fact see the sac and decided to allow it. Don't forget also that countless games have been lost by someone playing a tempting looking sacrifice and the attack eventually running out of steam.

What these sacs have in common is that the sac enables White's pieces to become more active and create further threats. So, why can't Black anticipate that and take better defensive measures?

For every rook sacrifice that GMs allow, there are 10 more that they foresee and prevent. But no one is infallible, occasionally everyone overlooks something or miscalculates something.

Like I said before, Black may have wanted white to sac. But also it’s a very complex position, you’re expecting too much for these positions to be played flawlessly.

Okay, that's probably right. However, the takeaway is when any of your pawns can be captured by a sac from your opponent, you should evaluate those captures to see if it gives your opponent more piece activity. If it does, anticipate that your opponent is considering doing just that and prepare a defence or counterattack. Just don't be surprised when it happens 'cause that will likely induce a poor response.