Attacking the King
The classic attacks on a castled king: when a sacrifice works, when the same move loses, and how to defend against it.
Most attacks on a castled king are variations on a handful of patterns. Learn them once and you will see them coming, in your own games and in your opponents'.
Each lesson starts with the pattern, then gives a checklist: the conditions the attack needs, each shown with a position where it holds and the sacrifice wins, and one where it fails and the same move loses. Then the attack move by move with every defence, a model game, and positions to solve.
Lessons
- 1The Greek Gift: Bxh7+The classic bishop sacrifice on h7: Bxh7+, Ng5+ and Qh5, with the king dragged into the open. Learn the three things to check before you play it, and the defence you must have an answer to.
- 2The Double Bishop SacrificeBoth bishops go: Bxh7+ and Bxg7, then a queen check and a rook lift to the h-file. Lasker's famous combination, the three conditions it needs, and the check that most players miss.
- 3Opposite-Side Castling: the h-File AttackKings on opposite sides means a race. Push the h-pawn, open the h-file, trade the fianchetto bishop with Bh6 and remove the knight on f6: mate on h7. And the two moments when Bh6 comes too early.
- 4The Exchange Sacrifice on c3Black's answer to the h-file attack: …Rxc3, a rook for the knight that guards White's king. When it breaks White's position open, when the queen just takes back, and why …Nxe4 often has to come first.
- 5The King in the CentreWhen the king has not castled, every open line is a threat. Sacrifice to keep it in the middle, bring every piece, and finish before it escapes. With Morphy's Opera Game and the Légal Trap.
How these lessons were checked
Every position is reached from a real opening line, so every board is legal and every move can be replayed. Every attacking move is within 0.3 pawns of Stockfish's first choice at depth 22, or keeps a winning advantage; every main-line defence is the engine's best. A sacrifice shown as working is the engine's choice and wins at least 1.5 pawns; one shown as failing is at least 1.5 pawns worse than the engine's move. Every exercise has a single solution, at least 1.5 pawns better than any other move, and every number in the text comes from the engine.