The Greek gift !!

Hello,

Have you heard of the Greek Gift Sacrifice in chess? Today I am going to tell you about the history behind this and how this sacrifice is made. 

History: The story starts in the end of a ten year long Trojan war. The Greeks and the Trojans were evenly matched, with no sign that the war might end soon. Despair reigned on both the sides. However, the Greeks had the cunning Odysseus on their side.

Odysseus was the king of Ithaca (an island in Greece). He devised the idea of constructing a large horse as a symbol of a peace offering to the Trojans. When the Greeks left the Trojan Horse at the gates of Troy, the Trojans actually believed that the Greeks had left it as a surrender gift as they sailed to their home. The Trojans opened their gates and wheeled the Trojan Horse within their walls. Little did they know that the belly of the horse was filled with armed soldiers who would soon destroy their city.

The Trojans celebrated their supposed win over the Greeks and fell into a deep drunken slumber. The Greek soldiers took this opportunity to emerge from the horse and destroy the city. Greek cleverness had won over the Trojan warrior skill !!

Quote: The Roman poet Virgil eventually coined the phrase "Be wary of Greeks bearing gifts " This phrase is now regularly used as a warning when a supposed gift or act of virtue is thought to hold a hidden threat. 

Chess - Greek sacrifice: This is how the Greek Sacrifice is made. 

- The light squared bishop is sacrificed. 

- The black king has to be castled.

- This trap only will work if the king takes the bishop on h7.

Now, after the king takes on h7 we will give him a knight check. After the check the black king has four possible squares to move to as you can see in the picture below:

- h8

- g8

- h6

- g6

 I will be discussing each of these four moves. 

1. h8

- h8 is the worst possible move here.

- It leads to mate in two. 

2. g8

- First take the pawn on f7. 

- And it will eventually lead to checkmate. 

3. h6

- knxf7 is double check.

- This may not lead to checkmate but it does get the queen. 

4. g6

There are three possible attacking opportunities but I'm going to be discussing the strongest one. 

- The pawn on h2 is the hero here. 

- The black king is definitely in a lost position. 

The Greek sacrifice is an interesting sacrifice but involves the bishop sacrifice not a knight (horse) sacrifice as in history. 

Alright then, this was about the Greek sacrifice. Hope you enjoyed reading my very first blog. And, if you have any suggestions or anything please put them in the comments below.

Thank you.