---
title: Queen Sacrifice beauty! Beautiful jewel of a game in the Sicilian Pin variation
description: Jonathon Tisdall vs Graham Lee has an amazing Queen Sacrifice
image: https://image.lichess1.org/display?fmt=webp&h=550&op=thumbnail&path=kingscrusher-youtube:ublog:PW4VXBHj:xwnLykb5.jpg&w=880&sig=b3019cdf756908bfc6ccd8d5de63ab66093de520
---

Hi all

One of the more beautiful games I have studied recently was in the Sicilian Pin variation which in many ways asks for trouble. It gives White a dark square bishop without a counterpart and there are some amazing punishing resources that this gives White.

In this game, we see incredible exploitation of the Black King in the center

## The Sicilian Pin variation is transposed into:

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#10

## White plays in the most critical manner hitting g7 early

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#13

## This seems a bit strange because it leaves White a whole piece down

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#15

Has White misremembered the refutation of the Pin variation? - d4 is dropping

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#18

## Okay, White does have certain domination on the dark squares but is it worth a piece?

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#21

## A calm move with threats of c3 and Bh6

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#23

## Black plays a seemingly very useful defensive move to evict the Queen

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#24

## White castles Queenside but isn't there a Qg6 resource now?

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#27

## BEHOLD! QUEEN SAC ALERT!

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#29

## d5 is tried

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#30

## Mate in one threat - Rd8 mate threat

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#31

## Renewing Rd8 threat

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#33

## A glorious deflection tactic

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#35

## Black resigned here - final position

https://lichess.org/study/QhmfSxKY/UGtXCo6f#37

## Video annotation based on study

https://youtu.be/ByQ0ygxRPG4

## Key takeaway points

* The Sicilian Pin variation fundamentally is a little suspect
* White has a dark square bishop without a counterpart in this game which can create seemingly magical resources, especially with King in the Center
* When one's King is in the center don't underestimate the power of human imagination to exploit that fact
* When things are a little suspect intuitively, there are probably amazing resources reinforcing that intuition

***

Want to go further? Explore all my online chess courses at [https://www.chessworld.net/online-chess-courses.asp](https://www.chessworld.net/online-chess-courses.asp) – learn openings, tactics, strategy, and more.

Cheers, K