Does The Greek Gift Live Up To Its Name?

 Hello everyone! Welcome back to the latest edition of the Saber Chronicles. For this week’s post I will be trying out something a little different, namely, educational content (shoutout to @DonRajesh and @B1Zmark for the suggestion!). Every week, I will be focusing on a different topic in chess and going into detail about it. In this week's installment I will be covering the Greek Gift, one of the most destructive and potentially fatal sacrifices in a chess game. Here is a meme which summarizes my personal experiences trying to master this sacrifice, which is more complex than it seems:

              TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• What is the Greek Gift?
• When does it work?

1. Controlling h7 with a knight
2. Controlling h7 on a diagonal
3. The king marches forward and is safe

• Sample Games
• Puzzles
• Conclusion

                                                What is the Greek Gift?

  The Greek Gift is one of the more well-known sacrifices in chess. Although there is some debate as to who invented the sacrifice, there is a theory that it is named after Gioachino Greco, who was a strong (for the time) player in the early 1600’s (for context, he lived before Philidor did!). Below is a diagram which shows the main idea of the Greek Gift:

Now I know what you're thinking. How is this position ever going to occur in a real chess game? Well, although admittedly I took off too many pieces to make the diagram realistic for the sake of simplicity, it turns out that the Greek Gift is incredibly common in real games. Here is Maurice Ashley using it to defeat an unsuspecting opponent during a bullet game.

                                                    When does it work?

 Now wasn't that sacrifice cool? It shouldn't be too hard to memorize, right? Well, unfortunately the Greek Gift is a bit more complicated than that. The final move of the sacrifice, Qh5, is not a forcing move. What does this mean? It means that if Black can avoid getting mated (or losing significant material in the process of avoiding being mated) then he would simply be up a piece. Let’s start by looking at an example where Black IS getting mated (with all of the pieces on the board this time!).

 Unfortunately, the Greek Gift sacrifice is not quite that simple. There are certain situations where the sacrifice does not work. This means that whenever you notice the possibility of a Greek Gift sacrifice, you need to double check whether your opponent can defend it properly or not. Let's go through each of Black's most common ways to refute the Greek Gift.

In a typical Greek Gift sacrifice, white's move Qh5 threatens only the pawn on h7. This means that if Black can use one of his pieces to defend the h-pawn, then White doesn't have an immediate way forward. One of the most common pieces that is able to defend this point is a knight on f6.

 The knight isn't the only piece that is able to successfully defend against the threat on f7. A bishop on f5 (a queen works equally well) is also able to fulfill that task. 

There is one more typical way to defend against the Greek Gift. In some situations, the king is able to capture the bishop and escape by running out into the open. Let's see an example where the king successfully can hide on g6 or h6.

How do you know if it is safe to march your king forward? Well, there are a few important factors that must be true about the position.

For the king to be safe on h6:

• White must not have a bishop on the c1-h6 diagonal, as then he would be able to win the game via a discovered check.
• It’s usually helpful if the king attacks the g5 knight, but this is not always 100 percent necessary. However, this is necessary if White can immediately bring a piece to the h-file with check.

For the king to be safe on g6:

• White must not be able to play h4 and h5 safely. (This usually means the white rook should not be on h1, as in that case, Black has Rh8 ideas to defend that square.
• Black needs to have a strong counter to Qg4. With the king on g6, the move Qg4 threatens a discovered check. However, Black can often prevent this by immediately attacking the queen, usually in the form of f5 or Nf6.

                                                             Sample Games

 Now that we've covered both the basic structure of the Greek Gift as well as when it works, let's look at some sample games that feature this sacrifice!

 Here's a game that was played by Boris Spassky in the semifinals of the 1965 candidates tournament against Efim Geller:

 It's pretty impressive that such an aggressive game was played during the Candidates. Nowadays, most top level games end in a draw after 20 moves or so.

 If you thought that game was cool, then I'm sure you'll find this one even better! This one features Tony Miles playing one of the most beautiful and complex sacrifices that I have ever seen in a real game.

                                        Definitely one of the games of all time.

                                                                    Puzzles!

 We have reached the conclusion of the informative portion of this blog. Now it's time for you to show what you have learned! I have attached four puzzles below ranging in difficulty from easiest to hardest. Tell me how you did in the comments!

That puzzle was actually from one of my OTB games! Unfortunately, I was White

 Luckily, I was able to redeem myself by finding this nice combination, which I admit to not having fully calculated when I initiated it. In fairness, this was an unrated training game played at a short time control.

 I played that game while in a chess camp run by the Charlotte Chess Center in North Carolina. One of the instructors at that camp was none other than Daniel Naroditsky, and I was able to show this training game to him! (I also was crushed by him four times in a row with 3.5 minute to 30 second time odds during the camp). However, after looking at this game with the engine, there is actually a flaw in my sacrifice. Can you find it?

This last puzzle comes from a game played between Gata Kamsky and Sam Shankland, and it's yet another example of a deep Greek Gift sacrifice.

 Fun fact: this game actually started out as a London System! Maybe the London isn't as boring as most people think it is!

                                                           Conclusion

 It appears you've reached the end of this blog. Hopefully you've learned a thing or two about the Greek Gift (I know I did from writing this). Maybe you'll even be able to use it in a game to blow an unsuspecting opponent off the board! Wouldn't that be cool! Just remember, always be careful that the Greek gift actually works before playing it!

 Oh, and one more thing. This blog is my entry for the second round of the qualifiers of BlogChamps, a blogging tournament run by top bloggers. I've learned a lot from my discussions with other, more experienced, bloggers who are in the club, as well as observing techniques used by bloggers and trying to apply it to my own blogs. If you have any interest in blogging, you should check out the club. Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your day!