I’m working out a screenplay, where the two actors are playing a game of chess. I need an endgame, of perhaps 5 move or less, where the Queen (or any piece, really, but the more valuable the better) is sacrificed in order to achieve checkmate.
Is such an endgame possible? And if so, would anyone be so kind as to draw one out for me?
This one of Paul Morphy’s is quite impressive. Skip to move 13.
This one of Paul Morphy’s is quite impressive. Skip to move 13.
Yikes, sorry about that!
Perfect! Thanks so much!
The only drawback is that any chess aficionado will recognise it on sight. But then, usually when there is chess in a screenplay we’re coming out ahead if the board is the right way round, never mind the position making sense.
From Russia With Love was a famous exception. When Grandmaster Kronsteen is seen winning a chess tournament, the position is taken from a game (as brilliant as Morphy’s, and much harder to understand) between Boris Spassky and David Bronstein.
It’s certainly possible, it’s just a question of whether the other player is skilled enough to spot the trap before it’s too late.
Which is okay for this. It’s a smallish short film, and we (the director and I) just wanted to use the sacrifice of something valuable in a game to foreshadow what’s to come. Actually, I think it’ll be interesting if anyone picks up on this famous move. 
The thing about that one is that the filmmakers left out a couple pawns from the position, which would allow for a defence that didn’t exist in the real game.