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Crazy bishop sacrifice in Chigorin Defense
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It's a cool line. The only issue I see with it is you don't get compensation back immediately, you probably need to play precisely for a number of moves to get it back... but you don't face the chigorin defense very frequently so when time comes for you to play this you probably aren't going to remember enough to play precisely. So that makes me a bit apprehensive of playing it but I haven't researched enough to know everything white needs to do to get compensation, if it's something you feel you can remember then why not? It's interesting.
Another issue is there aren't enough games here to really know all the ways you can expect people to respond based on statistics.
Unfortunately, Black has many options. He can throw in Bxf3. After cxd5, the knight can retreat to b8 or a5. Each variant leads to different tactics. In this sense, playing it accurately is hard. But there is some psychological advantage in playing crazy Stockfish lines. Previously, I was afraid of Chigorin, now I am looking forward to see it on board. :cool
White plays 3. Nf3 and, after the most common move 3. ... Bg4, continues with 4. Bg5, which looks exotic, but is actually the second best move according to Stockfish. The Bishop on g5 is a bit annoying because it prevents Black from pushing the e pawn. Black can respond in many ways (Nf6, h6, Qd7) and White should be prepared against those lines. But arguably the most challenging reply is f6. Benjaming Finegold would disagree, but Chigorin players often aim towards e7-e5 and the f6 pawn supports it with a tempo. Here comes a shock because White plays 4. Nc3!!, sacrificing a full piece.
Some observations:
1) The variant appears to be extremely rare (0 games in Master database).
2) There does not seem to be any immediate way how the regain the material. It's a proper gambit where White gains activity and a positional advantage.
3) The sacrifice is perfectly sound according to Stockfish (around +0.8). In other words, no refutation exists as far as Stockfish can tell.
4) Even Leela seems to agree with the sacrifice, but her evaluation is more conservative (around +0.25).
The game may continue like this (not a forced line):
with a small advantage for White.
Would you consider to play this bishop sacrifice in a live game? If you manage to get it against a human player, please, post your game here. If you want to have an unrated practice game I am volunteering to play as both: Black and White (but this variant until 4. Nf3 should be played).