Unity Chess Club
Alexei Shirov 2725 Dimitri Reinderman 2540 Wijk aan Zee 1999 White to move
When the king is protected only by pawns, one must always watch for the typical sacrifice! And here, it works:
The threat of the rook transfer to h3 is even stronger than the traditional queen entry in these positions.
Having drawn the knight to g8, White changes the direction of the attack.
30...g6 31.Nh7+ Kf7 32.Bh6 Ke7 33.Bg5+ Kf7 34.Bf6 Rf8 35.Rc7 Nxf6 36.Qxf6+ Ke8 37.Qxg6+ Kd8 38.Rxd7+ Bxd7 39.Nxf8 Bxf8 40.Qf6+ Be7 41.Rg8+ Kc7 42.Qc3+ Kb7 43.Rxb8+ Kxb8 44.h4
Unity Chess Club
Pavel Eljanov 2687 Loek van Wely 2676 Russia 2008 White to move
The black king is only protected by pawns, each of which is worth its weight in gold. By contrast, the white pieces are looking at the kingside, and so White has every reason to eliminate one of the enemy defenders:
If the sacrifice is accepted, White continues to eliminate one of the enemy footsoldiers after another, not minding giving up a piece for each of them: 19...Kxh7 20.Qd3+ Kh8 21.Rxg7 Kxg7 22.Nxe6++–.