Erdogmus Beats Erigaisi With an Exchange Sacrifice and Runaway Pawns

Photo: Vysotsky / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Black's pawn on b2 is one step from the last row. When it moves to b1, it becomes a queen, and the new queen will give check to the white king on d3 straight away.

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Final position, after 52.Kd3, with Black to move. The pawn on b2 promotes on b1 with check, and the h-pawn and a-pawn are close behind.

Analyze this position in the full game

The game record ends here, with Black winning. It was Black's pawns that won it. And Black was the underdog. By rating, Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus was 13th of the 14 players in the tournament, and Arjun Erigaisi was second.

Arjun Erigaisi 0-1 Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus Tata Steel Chess Masters 2026, Wijk aan Zee · Round 7 White: Arjun Erigaisi (2775) · Black: Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus (2658)

A pawn deep in White's camp

The game began as an English Opening, with 1.c4. Black answered with an early pawn push.

1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 d5 6.d3 Qb6 7.Nb3 Ng4 8.O-O e3

Black's pawn marched from e5 all the way to e3, deep in White's position. A pawn like that gets in the way of White's pieces. It also attacks the squares d2 and f2.

9.f3 Nf2

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Position after 9...Nf2, with White to move. The knight on f2 attacks the queen on d1, and it is protected by the pawn on e3.

Analyze this position in the full game

The knight jumped into f2, attacking the white queen, and the pawn on e3 protected it. White moved the queen, and the knight kept going.

10.Qc2 Nh3+ 11.Bxh3 Bxh3

Knight and bishop were traded, and now Black's bishop on h3 attacked the rook on f1. Our own Stockfish 16 run, at depth 18, still rated White slightly better here, by about a third of a pawn. Bold play is not the same as winning play, and the position was still balanced.

Giving a rook for a bishop

12.Rd1 d4 13.c5 Qd8 14.Qc4 Na6 15.Qxd4 Qxd4 16.Nxd4 Bxc5 17.Bxe3 O-O-O 18.Nc2 Rhe8 19.Kf2 Nb4 20.Nba3 Rxe3

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Position after 20...Rxe3, with White to move. Black's rook has just taken the bishop on e3. White will take the rook back with the knight.

Analyze this position in the full game

Black gave up a rook, worth five points, for White's bishop, worth three. Chess players call this an exchange sacrifice. Why do it? Watch what Black got over the next few moves.

21.Nxe3 Be6 22.d4 Rxd4 23.Ke1 Rxd1+ 24.Nxd1 Nxa2

Black won two pawns, on d4 and a2. After the dust settled, Black had two bishops, a knight and six pawns. White had a rook, two knights and five pawns. Our engine called it close to level.

The queenside pawns start to roll

25.Kd2 b5 26.Nc2 a5 27.Nc3 Nxc3 28.bxc3 a4

Now count the queenside pawns. Black has pawns on a4, b5 and c6. White has only one pawn over there, on c3. When you have more pawns than your opponent on one side of the board, you can push them forward to make a passed pawn, a pawn that no enemy pawn can stop.

The engine's evaluation moved slowly toward Black from move 31 onward. By move 42, after more pieces were traded, it rated Black about one and a half pawns better, and the endgame was a white rook against a black bishop, with Black's queenside pawns rolling.

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Position after 43.Re3, with Black to move. White has a rook, Black has a bishop. But Black's a-, b- and c-pawns face only one white pawn on c3.

Analyze this position in the full game

A rook is worth more than a bishop. But pawns that are close to promoting can be worth more than both. The white rook cannot be everywhere at once.

43...a3 44.Kc1 Bg2 45.e6+ Ke8 46.exf7+ Kxf7 47.Re6 b4 48.g5 b3 49.Rf6+ Kg8 50.Re6 b2+ 51.Kc2 h3 52.Kd3

Both the a-pawn and the b-pawn reached the third row from the end, and the b-pawn got all the way to b2. In the final position, Black is about to make a new queen with check.

What this game teaches

1. A far-advanced pawn can cramp your opponent. Black's pawn on e3 protected the knight on f2 and got in the way of White's pieces.

2. An exchange sacrifice is about what you get back. Black gave a rook for a bishop, then won two pawns and kept two strong bishops. The engine called the result close to level.

3. More pawns on one side means a passed pawn is coming. Three black pawns against one white pawn on the queenside was the plan for the whole endgame.

4. Fast passed pawns can beat a rook. In the end, a bishop and two runaway pawns were too much for the white rook.

5. Ratings do not play the game. The lower-rated player won by playing the plan the position asked for.