Hello! This is my first Blog and I am going to be starting a new series called ‘Strategy Spiel’. Everyday, on my blog, I will post about a new tactical strategy so everyone will have something to learn every day! This series is meant for players who are already aware of tactics such as Pin, fork, skewer, and other basic tactics. With these strategies we will also see when they go wrong! Here is our agenda for the next few days :

Day 1 : Greek Gift (difficulty : EASY)
Day 2 : Pawn Storm(difficulty : MEDIUM)
Day 3 : Rest Day
Day 4 : Attacking The King (difficulty : MEDIUM)
Day 5 : Final Test (Difficulty : HARD)

So Lets start today with The Greek Gift Sacrifice!

Where it works


Here is the first example understand the motif!

I hope you saw the idea! If you didn’t understand, here is an explanation.

The idea in the Greek Gift Sacrifice is to Open up the King after Bxh7.

and as you can see, the Black king is all opened up. Next we play Ng5 as shown in teh Example and win. Here is a second example.

And as we can see, we have the same idea. Open up the King, Play Qh5 and then Ng5 to create a mating threat on h7.

When the Greek Gift doesn’t work

as we see in this game, Black is able to sacrifice a piece and get his Knight to f6. This stops the usual Qh5-Ng5 and then Qh7 kind of checkmates! this can also be taken as a way to defend against the Greek Gift! If you have a chance at fighting, take it! even if it means sacrificing the piece back. (I say sacrificing the piece back because Black already got White’s Bishop after Bxh7 and Kxh7)

My Game!

Now, last but not least, I will show you my very own recent game played in The Maharashtra State Junior Championship 2021!

Make sure to type in your answer in the comments below! I will reveal the answer in teh next blog!

Here is a brief summary of when the Greek gift works and when it doesn’t!
1) Black doesn’t have a Knight on f6 or a way to bring the Knight on f6. even if it means sacrificing a piece, as we saw in the previous game
2) White is able to play Qh5 check and Ng5
3) Black isn’t able to escape with his King.

of course there are always few exceptions but this is what is usually to be on the lookout for.

Thanks for reading please let me know in the comments what else you would like to see on this blog, keep chessing, and enjoy!

Publication author

offline 3 weeks

FaZe Sk!pper

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