Defending Against Aggressive Play

Depends on the position. But most of the time I would be attacking them at the same time. If you are just passively waiting they will checkmate you sooner or later. But if you can attack at the same time they also have to worry about their king and spend tempo defending it.

It's also a general rule that if the players castle on opposite sides, it's a race to see who can checkmate the other first.

@1

"I fall apart when someone attacks my castled king with their queen and pawns."
++ An attack can only succeed if it is justified by a previous mistake you made, e.g. neglecting the center. The usual way to repel a wing attack is a counterstrike in the center.
You have to stay cool and think carefully to organise an adequate defense.
Take time to think.

Here are two famous games where the defender wins.
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1095025 
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1042835

Study these games.

If you want concrete advice, you need to post a couple of games where this happened to you--hopefully with your own notes, so that we know what you were thinking

Develop pieces to control key diagonals and lines of attack.

A passive-aggressive playstyle might be good for you, playing solid with some leeway to get aggressive in the future. However, if the opponent you play is just aggressive then if I was in your shoes I would play a much more aggressive style and try to gain initiative just to go back into a solid/ positional style where I know I have the better position or activity.

Defending against an aggressive sacrificial attack on your King...

A Heroic Defense in the Sicilian Najdorf - Kids, don't try this at home! - Chess Forums - Chess.com

Bullet points:

• Stay calm.
• Don't just passively defend. Mix both defense and counter-attack.
• If the opponent attacks on a flank, then aim your counter-play through the center.
• Break up a sacrificial attack by returning some of the sacrificed material.

yes. the answer is both.

there's a wonderful game where Tigran Petrosian defended against Garry Kasparov.

Kasparov miscalculated and dropped the rook, the attack fizzled, and he resigned. defending properly is always the right answer.

as far as attacking, anytime that you can create multiple problems for your opponent whether tactical or positional is a good thing.

It depends for me... If I build an attacking chance first but they still manage to threaten my King, I would still attack the opponent as long as I know that his attack will not lead to checkmate or he need a lot of maneuver or moves to carry out his plans than I do. But If the opposite is true, I would build a defense first by means of simultaneously attacking his threats. For example, if he needs the bishop for the Queen bishop checkmate combo, I tend to attack the bishop (not the Queen) because bishop have less movement and is more vulnerable for attack. In this case, trading your own bishop for his is necessary. By means of attacking key pieces, you eliminate threats better and after this you can now focus on attacking. If you can't do this because you don't have a piece to eliminate that key piece, you can still manage to cover the intended path of that key piece but you must remember that a threat is still a threat if it is not eliminated.

Maybe the best way to deal with aggressive players is to learn ways to limit the possible moves of your opponent. You can be successful by playing defensively. The late Tigran Petrosian is a great example of a player who reached legendary status based on his defense. Swashbuckling, aggressive play is beautiful to see, but there is a certain level of awesomeness in watching a player strangle another like a python. Study the best games of Petrosian and other defensive geniuses and learn!

I agree. Limiting their moves is the best play the defending player can do effectively. When the time comes that they made a blunder, you can counter attack immediately.

Hi there, I reviewed some of your games. Please note I am not a high rated player. I would recommend studying some basic openers. Not only can you use them as white, but also get use to seeing them as black.

In one game I reviewed, you placed both of your knights on d7 and e7. Then subsequently moved them to b6 and g6. These moves were not done for any specific reasons and seemed very closed. Stick to the basics as you learn. That means moving pawns to control the center and developing your minor pieces. Typically knights are going to favor moving to c5 and f5 if your black.

I would google and learn some basic systems. Study the Italian (and fried liver variation), scholars mate, Spanish, Vienna, London, queens gambit, kings gambit, Scandinavian, Sicilian, and four knights. Just understanding the basics from these lines will improve your game play a ton.

Hi. Many players up to 1000 love to push the pawns in front of the king when attacked. Their play is way too reactive and they just create more weaknesses. Don't panic and carefully analyse the threat. Most of the early queen attacks can be fended off easily with the gain of tempo. Get better in tactics it will help you to recognize and defend threats more easily. Defending is way much harder because it's not fun.. Get a good tactics course for your level. I use chess king but there are many other apps out there.

I checked one of your games. You play way too passively and give too much space in the opening. Trying to play a closed french type of game just to be safe. That's a recipe for disaster especilaly against stronger players. You need good experience to handle those positions. They will find a crack in your armour eventually. But the worst thing is it will hinder your progress as a chess player. Play open games and stick to some good principles first. Don't worry too much about losing. It comes with the territory

you dont need to develop different types of play for different kind of players, play solid, try not to leave anything undefended, stay behind your pawn shell and open it up while attacking.

like hoplites in phalanx formation

IMO

We have to understand the position and then play appropriately. An opponent who plays aggressive because his position is better... the problem is not that he plays aggressive but of finding ourself in an "very" inferior or losing position.

If he plays deliberately aggressive in a inferior position, let's calculate and foil his attack pattern either by exchanging material, counterattacking in the center, or playing more pieces by positioning them well etc.

We see a game that starts timorous then suddenly White decides to play aggressive and it's a disaster.

1) Nf3 Nf6 2) g3 d5 3) Bg2 Bf5 4) d3

White played "Indian system" and Black played "London system". It plays in a timorous way where it repeats opening patterns in a more or less mechanical way.

4)...h6

This passive move gives the opportunity to play aggressively. Normaly the system is 4)...e6 but Black thinks if he plays 4)...e6 White can simply look to exchange his Nf3 for Bf5 so he plays 4)...h6 because like this Bishop can go to h7

5) c4 dxc4

The problem is that Black doesn't really understand what White is trying to do. He thinks 6) Qa4+ c6 7) Qxc4 then this is a game where Black will fall in a "Caro-Slavic system".

6) Ne5 

Black sees the Knight wants to take the c4 pawn but he doesn't see the Bg2 is suddenly activated and threatens the b7 pawn

6)...cxd3 7) Bxb7

Strong bot finds an stronger attack idea i.e 7) Qb3 and strong bot already estimates the losing position which means that Black is attacked but he cannot really defend himself because his position is too inferior.

The defense was first of all to understand the position well enough then don't play 6)...cxd3 but 6)...c6

7)...Nbd7

Same Black defends bad because he doesn't really understand the position and he tells himself that White is going to play 8) Bxa8 Qxa8 then like in Grunfeld defense "it turns out not so bad to exchange our Rook for his super Bishop" but the problem is that White has another possibility much better

8) Nc6

It's situational. Sometimes you can simply defend, other times you'll need counterplay to stay in the game. I don't know if anyone can reliably explain when to adopt either strategy. I think it takes some very advanced Chess to make that call. Pure defence is perhaps the hardest thing in Chess because you need to discover all of your opponent's ideas before it's too late so on those grounds alone, having an active counter attack sooner rather than later, is probably prudent.

I see what you are saying but the cow opening will not work once you get higher rated. It's better to learn something that works at a higher level as well. Try the caro kann as black.