Lesson 1 of 5
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.
The Greek Gift is the most famous sacrifice in chess. White gives a bishop on h7 with check, brings the knight to g5 with another check, and the queen comes to h5. If the defender cannot stop the queen reaching h7, it is mate; if Black can, it usually costs the queen or a king walk into the open.
It comes up again and again in the French Defence, the Colle and the Queen's Gambit, wherever White has a pawn on e5 and a bishop on d3, and Black has castled without a knight on f6. Club players miss it as attacker and walk into it as defender. They also play it when it does not work, because the first two moves are forcing and the refutation comes on move three.
This lesson teaches the pattern, then a checklist of three conditions, each with a position where it holds and the sacrifice wins and one where it fails and the same move loses. Then the sacrifice move by move with every defence, a model game, and five positions to solve.
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ehWhite's bishop on d3 looks straight at h7, and the pawn on e5 has driven Black's knight from f6 to d7. Now h7 is defended only by the king. That is the first sign: a bishop on the b1–h7 diagonal, a pawn on e5, and no knight on f6.
8721acdehAfter 8.Bxh7+ Kxh7 9.Ng5+ the king has to choose. Retreat with 9…Kg8 10.Qh5 and mate on h7 is threatened. Go forward and the king is in the open, where the queen and the rooks join with check. The bishop on c1 is part of it: it guards g5, so the queen on d8 cannot simply take the knight.
8721acdehStepping forward to g6 keeps the queen off h7 and is the hardest defence to break. White needs a second wave, here 10.Qd3+, bringing the queen to the king with check. Before you sacrifice, have your answer to …Kg6 ready.
Each condition with two positions: one where it holds and the move works, one where it is missing and the same move fails. The number is Stockfish's evaluation after the move, from the attacker's side.
If a knight is on f6, it takes the bishop and the attack is over before it starts. The pawn on e5 matters because it drives that knight away.
It works
8721acdeh8.Bxh7+ Kxh7 9.Ng5++3.5
The knight has been driven to d7, so only the king guards h7. After the knight check the king has no safe square.
It fails
8721adfg11.Bxh7+ Nxh7−6.2
Same opening, but Black has played …f6 and the knight is back on f6. It simply takes the bishop, and White has no check to follow up with.
The engine prefers Bg3 (+0.7).
The sacrifice needs a second wave at once. Without a knight that can jump to g5, the queen check on h5 alone runs out of steam and the king walks back to g8.
It works
8731acdeh9.Bxh7+ Kxh7 10.Ng5+ Kg6 11.h4+8.0
The knight on f3 jumps to g5 with check, and with no dark-squared bishop Black has nothing to take it with. h4 and h5+ follow.
It fails
8721adegh8.Bxh7+ Kxh7 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Qh5+ Kg8−3.0
Here White's knight is still on g1 and cannot reach g5 in time. After Qh5+ Kg8 the attack has nothing more, and Black is a piece up. The quiet Qh5 is the right way to attack here.
The engine prefers Qh5 (+2.3).
A bishop on e7 or a queen on d8 with a clear diagonal can take the knight on g5. Then you need a pawn on h4, so that hxg5 opens the h-file for the rook, or a bishop on c1 to recapture.
It works
8721acdeh8.Bxh7+ Kxh7 9.Ng5+ Bxg5 10.hxg5++10.8
With the pawn on h4, …Bxg5 is answered by hxg5+, and the rook on h1 joins the attack along the open h-file. Black is lost whatever the defence.
It fails
8721acdeh7.Bxh7+ Kxh7 8.Ng5+ Bxg5−1.3
The bishop on e7 takes the knight, and White has nothing to recapture with that opens a file. Here the engine plays h4 first, preparing the sacrifice.
The engine prefers h4 (+4.5).
Click a move or use the arrows. Under each note you'll find the defender's other choices and how to answer them. The number under the board is Stockfish's evaluation from the attacker's side.
The sacrifice and every defence
8721acdeh7…O-O? Black castles into it: the knight on d7 no longer guards h7 and nothing covers g5. The bishop on c5 points the wrong way.
The standard example of the Greek Gift, and a lesson in looking at f8. Edgard Colle, whose quiet system with e3, Bd3 and e4 is still called the Colle System, exchanges the knight that guarded h7 and sacrifices. The engine shows that 13…Kg8! would have held, because Black's rook had left f8 and the king could run there. John O'Hanlon stepped forward with …Kg6 instead, Colle answered with h4 and a rook lift, and O'Hanlon resigned after move 20.
Nice · 1-0
8721abcdefghStep through the moves with the arrows, or click a move.
Each position has one best move. Find it, then check the solution.
8731acdehExercise 1
White to move. Black has castled, and has no dark-squared bishop left.
9.Bxh7+ Kxh7 10.Ng5+
Every condition holds: only the king guards h7, the knight reaches g5 with check, and Black has no bishop to take it. After 10…Kg6 11.h4 the pawn comes to h5 with check.
French Defence, Winawer, after 8…O-O.
8721acdehExercise 2
White to move. The sacrifice is in the air. Is it on right now?
7.h4
Not yet: 7.Bxh7+ Kxh7 8.Ng5+ Bxg5 and the knight is gone. First 7.h4, so that a knight on g5 is backed by the pawn and hxg5 opens the h-file. The engine prefers it to anything else by more than two pawns.
French Defence, Steinitz, after 6…O-O.
8721acdehExercise 3
White to move. Black has ignored the threat with 7…c5.
8.Bxh7+
Now the sacrifice wins: 8.Bxh7+ Kxh7 9.Ng5+ Bxg5 10.hxg5+ and the h-file is open for the rook. Black's best is to decline with 8…Kh8, and Black is still lost.
French Defence, Steinitz, after 7…c5.
8721adehExercise 4
White to move. Count the attackers and check g5.
9.Bxh7+
Only the king guards h7 and the knight reaches g5 with check. The queen on d8 can take on g5, but the bishop on f4 takes back. Black's best is to decline with 9…Kh8, staying a pawn down with a weak king.
French Defence, Steinitz, after 8…O-O.
127fdcbaExercise 5
Black to move. You have taken the bishop and the knight checks. Where does the king go?
9...Kg6
Only 9…Kg6 holds out: 9…Kg8 10.Qh5 costs the queen, 9…Kh6 10.Nxe6+ is a discovered check that wins the queen, and 9…Kh8 10.Qh5+ Kg8 11.Qh7# is mate. Even after 9…Kg6 Black is in trouble, but the game goes on.
The position from this lesson, after 9.Ng5+.
Nobody is sure where the name comes from. One story points to the Trojan Horse, the gift the Greeks left at the gates of Troy, and to Virgil's line "I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts". The Oxford Companion to Chess suggests another source: Gioachino Greco, the Italian player of the early seventeenth century, in whose games the sacrifice often appeared.
Edgard Colle, a Belgian master who died in 1932 at the age of 34, is remembered for the Colle System and for the win against John O'Hanlon at Nice in 1930. It is the model game in this lesson, and still the standard example of the sacrifice, although engines now show that Black could have held.
The bishop for h7, a knight that reaches g5 with check, and a queen that reaches h5 or the h-file at once. If one of the three is missing, do not sacrifice.
If a bishop on e7 or a queen on d8 can take the knight on g5, you need a pawn on h4 or a bishop that recaptures. Otherwise play h4 first.
The best defence is the king stepping forward. Know your second wave before you start: a queen check such as Qd3+, or a pawn already on h4 ready for h5+.
If the defender's rook has left f8, the king may run there after Qh5 and Qh7+. Colle's famous sacrifice was only a draw for that reason.
Keep a knight on f6. If e5 drives it away, think about …h6, …f5 or …Nf6 again before castling into the gift.