The Greek gift
The Greek gift is the bishop sacrifice Bxh7+ (or ...Bxh2+ for Black) against a castled king.
- 12 min
- 2 steps
- Lesson 20 of 132
In this lesson
- How to spot it
- Puzzles
Picking up where you left off.
How to spot it
The Greek gift is the bishop sacrifice Bxh7+ (or …Bxh2+ for Black) against a castled king. After the king takes, the queen and knight arrive with tempo (Qh5+ and Ng5, or Ng5+ and Qh5) and threaten mate on h7. The bishop is “given” to rip open the king’s shelter.
It works when: your bishop and knight can reach h7 and g5, your queen can reach the h-file quickly, Black has no knight on f6 (a pawn on e5 is ideal, because it keeps the knight away and takes f6 from the king), and Black cannot easily capture or block on g5 or h7. A pawn on h4 supporting Ng5, or a rook on the h-file, makes it even stronger.
Check the defences before you sacrifice: …Kh8 declining the bishop, …Kg6 or …Kh6 running forward, …Qxg5, and …Re8 to make room on f8. The puzzles below are all sound; the solution shows Black’s most stubborn defence.
Puzzles
Eight puzzles, rated 1300 to 1750. A wrong move shows the engine’s refutation, and a missed puzzle comes back for review.
Lesson complete
Nice work.