I saw 32 .. Nxd5 33.
Rxa8 Rxa8 34. Qxa8 Ne3+ 35. Kg1
and I don't see any advantage for black

my line was 32 .. Rxa5 33.
Qxa5 Nxd5 34. exd5 Rc8 35. Be1 Rc1 36. Rxc1 Qxc1 37. Nb3 Qc2 38. Nd4 Qd1 39. f4 d2 40. Nf3 dxe1=Q+ 41. Nxe1 Qxd5 42. Nf3

"Living and dying, laughing and crying
Once you have seen it you'll never be the same
Life in the fast lane is just how it seems
It's hot and it's heavy and dirty and mean"

It is to the advantage of Black if he can open the e file. Having a passed pawn on d6 and receiving extra help from the e Rook can make lots of changes there. At first I thought to open the file by 32...Nxd5 33.exd5 but noticed that the Knight is supporting the Rooks and went for ...f5

32...........f5
33.exf5 Be3 threatening mate on f2
34.Be1 Qe2+!
35.Nxe2 dxe2+
36.Kxe2 Bc1+
37.Kd3 Bxa3
38.fxg6+ Kxg6
39.Rxa8 Rxa8
40.Kd4 Ra4
Black is slightly better

If on move 34, White Queen comes to the battlefield to stop the mate:

So that makes me think that 32 ... f5 is too slow. So how about something more attacking...

<32 ... Nxd5!>

Ignoring the threat of Ne3+ is not a good idea...

33 Be1 Ne3+
34 Kg1 Qxg2#

33 Rxa8 Rxa8
34 Qxa8 Ne3+
35 Kg1 Nd1 mating

33 Qb2 Qxb2
34 Rxb2 Ne3+
35 Bxe3 Bxe3 (Ke1/Kg1 Nc4 )
36 Nc6 Bb6
37 Rxa8 Rxa8
38 Ke1 Be3
39 Rb1 Ra2 mating

But taking the knight is even worse!

32 exd5 Re2

33 Nxe2 dxe2+
34 Kg1 Qd1+
35 Be1! Qxc1 (36 Qa1 Qxa1 )
36 Qc3 Be3+
37 Kh1 Rc8
38 Qa1 Rc1
39 Qxb1 Rxc1
40 g3 Rxe1+
41 Kg2 Rg1+
42 Kg3 e1=Q

33 Qb2 Rxf2+
34 Kg1 Rxg2+
35 Kf1 Rf2+
36 Kg1 Qxb2
37 Rxb2 Rxb2
38 Rxa8 Be3+

So am I right???

~~~

The books tell us to double rooks on open files or files that are likely to be open. And that is normally great advice.

But there is a little caveat that needs to be added to the general rule. The open file needs to be one that you can actually do something with. Rooks need open files so that they can invade enemy territory and then turn left or right to make mischief.

Control of an open file is not particularly useful if there is nothing juicy at the other end of it.

At the start of the puzzle, it looks as if all the action is going to happen on the a file:

click for larger view

Apart from the advanced queen and pawn, the black pieces seem to be mostly defensive. Black is just about contesting the a file and holding on to the weak b5 pawn.

But looks can be deceiving. Sure, black has a strong grip on the a file, but what is he going to do with it? If the Ra8 wanders away there is nothing off-white on the file waiting to be captured.

White can trundle up the a file and then turn right, but it is going to take a long time for him to get the black king.

It turns out that the important files are the c and e files. From here the black rooks can threaten to invade on the second and first ranks. The white king is much more vulnerable to rook invasion than his black counterpart.

Hence 32...Nxd5 opening both the e and c files.

<MostlyAverageJoe: <RV> Well, to keep the record complete, Hiarcs11.2MP found it after 13 plies (82 seconds runtime). Much easier puzzle (for software) than 2 days ago. It initially considered 33.Rxa8 to be the best response as well, but only for about 10-15 seconds.>

White cannot even afford to play a move like 34 g3, giving his king an escape square.

click for larger view

Black has 34...Be3, seeing 35 Bxe3 Rxe3.

click for larger view

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However, Spielman also goes on to state that as opposed to a "real sacrifice" the "sham sacrifice involves no risk" as "the player either recovers the invested material with advantage" or "mates."

I'm sure there's a point at which the distinction between Spielman's "real" and "sham" sacrifice is blurred, and maybe that's the case here.

However, in this game I judged that Black saw the sacrifice 32...Rxd5! would lead to decisive material advantage or mate. So, I judged it was in Spielman's "sham sacrifice" category.