thumb|[[Olena Voronina scores a hit off Yekaterina Dyachenko (L) in the women's team sabre final of the 2013 World Fencing Championships]]

The sabre (US English: saber, both pronounced ) is one of the three disciplines of modern fencing alongside foil and epee. The sabre weapon is for thrusting and cutting with both the cutting edge and the back of the blade (unlike the other modern fencing weapons, the épée and foil, where a touch is scored only using the point of the blade).

The cross-sectional profile of the sabre blade is commonly a V-shaped base which transitions to a flat rectangular shaped end with most blade variants, but this is dependent on how it is manufactured. This allows the blade to be flexible towards the end. According to regulation, manufacturers must acknowledge that the blade must be fixed horizontally at a point from the tip of the blade.

Standardised adult (size 5) blades are in length (excluding other components). At the end of the blade, the point is folded over itself to form a "button" which, when viewed end on, must have a square or rectangular section of no larger or smaller. The button must not be any more than from the end of the blade section.

Target area

thumb|upright=1.4|Valid target area for hits to be scored indicated in red.

The general target area for the discipline, that is, all areas where a valid hit may be scored, comprises the entire torso above the waist, the head, and the arms up to the wrist. The legs, hands and feet are excluded from the target area.

A single circuit for the entire target area used in scoring systems is formed by multiple conductive pieces of equipment:

  • Glove: Gloves usually provide the conductive manchette (cuff) used in physical conjunction and contact with the lamé; usually worn over the lamé. The hand may not be conductive.
  • Lamé: The conductive lamé which covers the torso and arms of the fencer. Conductivity of the lamé does not extend past the waistline to meet with the target criteria.
  • Mask: The conductive mask, usually directly connected to the lamé through a wire with a crocodile clip on each end.

Because touches can be scored using the edge of the blade, there is no need for a pressure-sensitive head (the "button") to be present on the end of the blade. When fencing "electric" (as opposed to "steam" or "dry") a current runs through the sabre blade. When the blade comes into contact with the lamé, the electrical mask, or the manchette, current flows through the body cord and interacts with the scoring equipment.

Scoring

thumb|[[Veniamin Reshetnikov (Left) and Nikolay Kovalev (Right) hit each other simultaneously: both lights on the masks are on. Final of the 2013 World Fencing Championships.]]

Central judging apparatus

The scoring apparatus or box aids the referee's final judgement. As for all electrical apparatus used in modern fencing, the referee must take into account the possibility of mechanical failure. This period is set into the electrical apparatus to aid judgement.

Recent regulation adjustments to the "functioning times of the scoring apparatuses" following from the 2016 Olympic Games modified the registering times from 120 ms to 170 ms Scoring apparatuses with the new modification are marked with a magenta identification label bearing in black text "FIE 2016".

  • If both hits occur and the time difference is greater than the lockout period, one signal is displayed by the judging apparatus. The referee is likely to award the point to the first hit.
  • If both hits occur within the lockout period, both signals are displayed; in such a situation final judgement of the score is determined by the 'right of way'.

Changing the lockout timing effectively changed the way with which the sabre was fenced, making it faster with greater emphasis on footwork. Although the essential nature of the game would remain the same, the strategies for attack and defense would need to be rethought.

The timing change was initially greeted with a degree of controversy, as many fencers were accustomed to having the longer timings. This made the techniques then employed vulnerable to fast stop-cuts (a hit made by the defender that lands whilst the attacker is still beginning an attack, also known as a skyhook) or (a second attack made by the original attacker after the first has technically finished). It was commonly regarded that the shorter timings would only encourage poor technique and an "attack only" mentality, negating much of the art of the sport.

Remises and stop-cuts would not normally score a point, as a hit by the attacker would take priority. However, the hit made with priority may arrive too late under the shorter timings to register, and so the stop-cuts and remises would indeed score.

As a result of the narrower timings, the efficacy of attacks into preparation was increased, meaning that it was now more critical that the preparing fencer must already have begun an attack by the time the two fencers were in hitting distance of each other.

The techniques of how to parry and riposte have been extended. The solid parries, used extensively before the change of timings, would be supplemented by an additional step back by the defender to avoid the attacker remising (continuing to push their blade after their attack has technically done) or else the defence to be performed as a beat-attack, an extending arm that deflects the oncoming attack halfway through the extension before hitting the original attacker's target area.

With hindsight, the shorter timings seem to have encouraged a tightening and refinement of the original techniques with smaller, neater moves so that, on the whole, sabre fencing became faster and more precise than it had ever been before.

Right of way

thumb|[[Veniamin Reshetnikov (L) and Nikolay Kovalev (R) both claim the hit; the referee must decide who scores the point. Final of the 2013 World Fencing Championships.]]

When both signals indicate, it rests upon the referee to decide which fencer scores the point. The decision is based on the concept of right of way which gives the point to the fencer who had priority, i.e. the attacking fencer. As with foil, the other right of way weapon, priority is gained in many ways, which can be broken down into active, passive, and defensive categories:

  • Active:
  • Attacking the opponent. (In fencing the word "attack" is defined as: the initial offensive action made by extending the arm and continuously threatening the opponent's target, preceding the launching of the lunge or step. The flèche is illegal in sabre as a "crossover". In sabre the threat may be established with the point or the cutting edge, and the end of the attack coincides with the moment the front foot touches the strip.) Hitting with the blade after the front foot has landed constitutes a remise of the attack, and so an opponent's attack delivered at the same time would take the right of way in this case.
  • Executing an attack which is preceded by a beat on the opponent's weapon.
  • Passive:
  • Establishing a point in line prior to the opponent initiating an attack. The hit must be completed with the point and have the point stick to their opponent's chest (not a poke that hits and then slides off). Derobement of the opponent's attempts to beat are allowed, but the point must continue to threaten the target, and a derobement when there is no attempt to beat also loses the right of way.
  • If an attack is executed against an opponent who has point in line, the attacker must remove the point in line (i.e., with a beat, etc.). Simply making contact with the blade is insufficient and the blade must actually be moved aside.
  • If an attempt to beat the blade is made, and missed (because of a derobe), the opponent maintains the right of way.
  • Point in line can lose priorities regardless of whether the fencer is advancing, stationary, or retreating,