Positional Sacrifice

The modifier comes from position, late 14th century, from Latin positionem, combined with sacrifice (Latin sacrificium “a making sacred”). No source consulted documents who coined the phrase, when, or where. What is documented is the conceptual distinction it belongs to: Rudolf Spielmann proposed a division between sham and real sacrifices, and is remembered as the author of the classic book The Art of Sacrifice in Chess. A positional sacrifice — also called a true sacrifice — is one “in which the lost material is not regained via a combination, but instead gains positional compensation,” as opposed to a sham or pseudo sacrifice made at no real risk.