Greek gift sacrifice

a4	b4 black rook	c4 black king	d4
a3	b3 black pawn	c3 black pawn	d3 white bishop
a2 black pawn	b2	c2	d2
a1	b1	c1	d1

Depiction of the Greek gift sacrifice.

In chess, the Greek gift sacrifice, also known as the classical bishop sacrifice, is a typical sacrifice of a bishop by White playing Bxh7+ or Black playing Bxh2+ at some point after the opponent has castled kingside, with the goal generally being to attack and checkmate the opponent's king, or to regain material. It is important to consider the opponent's defenses.

Greek gift sacrifices, or the threat of them, occur relatively frequently in play, especially at amateur level. One of the most famous examples of the sacrifice is found in the game Edgard Colle–John O'Hanlon, Nice 1930. Less commonly, a Greek gift sacrifice may be the prelude to a double bishop sacrifice, as seen in Lasker–Bauer, Amsterdam 1889.

Requirements

The Greek gift sacrifice usually has several prerequisites in order to succeed. In general, the attack will succeed if:

• the attacker has more control over the g5-square (g4 if the attacker is black) than the defender;
• the attacker's knight can move to g5 (or g4) to deliver a check;
• the attacker's queen can join the attack, often on the h-file;
• the defender cannot move a piece to safely defend square h7 (or h2);
• the defender cannot easily reorganize his defense.

If there is a defending bishop on e7 (or e2), a pawn on h4 (or h5) is necessary. Otherwise, it can be useful.

Illustration

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8	File:Chessboard480.svg a8 black rook b8 black knight c8 black bishop d8 black queen f8 black rook g8 black king a7 black pawn b7 black pawn c7 black pawn d7 black knight f7 black pawn g7 black pawn h7 black pawn e6 black pawn d5 black pawn e5 white pawn b4 black bishop d4 white pawn c3 white knight d3 white bishop f3 white knight a2 white pawn b2 white pawn c2 white pawn f2 white pawn g2 white pawn h2 white pawn a1 white rook c1 white bishop d1 white queen e1 white king h1 white rook								8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Position after 6...0-0??. The Greek gift sacrifice wins.

The position after the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Nf3 Bb4 6.Bd3 0-0?? (diagram) is a simple case where the Greek gift sacrifice works. White can play 7.Bxh7+! Kxh7 8.Ng5+ to force Black to give up the queen to prevent mate:

• 8...Kh8 9.Qh5+ Kg8 10.Qh7#
• 8...Kg8 9.Qh5 threatening 10.Qh7#, to which the only feasible responses are
  • 9...Qxg5 10.Bxg5 wins the queen, and
  • 9...Re8 10.Qxf7+ Kh8 11.Qh5+ Kg8 12.Qh7+ Kf8 13.Qh8+ Ke7 14.Qxg7#
• 8...Kh6 9.Nxf7+ wins the queen.
• 8...Kg6 9.h4 and there is no satisfactory way to meet the threat of 10.h5+ Kh6 (10...Kf5 11.g4#) 11.Nxf7+, winning the queen.

Etymology

The etymology of the phrase "Greek gift" in this context is not entirely clear. The obvious explanation is that it alludes to the Trojan Horse, and specifically to Laocoön's famous Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes ("I fear the Greeks even when they bring gifts", Virgil's Aeneid II.49). The Oxford Companion to Chess, however, suggests that one explanation is that the sacrifice often occurred in Gioachino Greco's games.

References

Bibliography

Further reading

• Vladimir Vuković, Art of Attack in Chess – chapter 6 is dedicated to the classical bishop sacrifice

External links

• Greek gift practice