For questions specifically aimed at discussing the safety of a king in the opening and middlegame, e.g. after castling and related to pushing pawns in front of the king.
Questions tagged [king-safety]
11 questions
18
votes
3 answers
Willingly giving up castling rights in the opening?
[fen ""]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d6 3. Nc3 e5
I've seen the Ukrainian/Old Indian Defence played in several GM games before 1970, and was wondering what black gained from willingly giving up castling rights in the opening. According to this source, black…
chubbycantorset
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13
votes
3 answers
Why is castling seen as making the king so safe?
I'm an amateur chess player.
I was reading an article about how f7 is such a vulnerable square and how castling makes the king safe and attacks on F7 no longer worrisome. But looking at it, I am wondering, is this really that much better for the…
JSavant
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10
votes
1 answer
Developing the king before developing most of your pieces
I saw this opening for the first time and was amazed by the position of the white king.
[FEN "?"]
[startply "21"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h6 5. g4 Bd7 6. h5 e6 7. f4 c5 8. c3 Nc6 9. Nf3 Qb6 10. Kf2 O-O-O 11. Kg3
In this position, white…
Zuriel
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7
votes
2 answers
Playing Kb1(b8) immediately after O-O-O
I'm curious about this move duo.
I see this quite a bit, and I'm trying to figure out under which conditions that playing Kb1(b8) is normally preferred.
In some openings, such as the Sicilian Dragon, White will castle long followed up by playing…
PeskyGnat
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7
votes
1 answer
With regards to the safety of the king when castling kingside
Basically, I want to keep my king safe after a kingside castle.
I want to avoid this:
8/8/8/8/8/8/5PPP/2r3K1 w - - 0 1
The configuration is such that none of my pieces can access the f1 square. I can’t trust any of the pawn advances, because:
For…
insipidintegrator
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7
votes
5 answers
Is endangering the king a good strategy in some positions?
According to Wikipedia, "any chess piece except the king may be sacrificed". However, I am wondering,if in some rare situations, whether endangering the king can also be a good strategy. Here is what I mean.
In a position, I make a move after which…
Zuriel
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6
votes
3 answers
How to improve king safety
I really wish to improve my chess skills a bit, albeit I am pretty sure that I do not want to become a grandmaster.
One of my problem is my king's safety. Chess is very different from some other board games. E.g. in checkers you must either kill or…
Alexander
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5
votes
1 answer
Why is g5 much better than gxh5 in this position of Anand?
To me, Anand's 13. g5 instead of 13. gxh5 was very surprising.
[Title "Vishwanathan Anand vs Nafiz Ediz İlhan, chess24.com"]
[FEN ""]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. h3 e5 7. d5 a5 8. g4 Nfd7 9. Be3 Na6 10. Rg1 Ndc5 11. h4…
Ritesh Singh
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4
votes
1 answer
Capturing (almost) free piece by King
Here's a position in a chess puzzle:
[Title "White to move"]
[fen "5rk1/p7/Q1n3pp/3q1p1n/2B2P2/4P2P/P5rK/R4R2 w - - 0 1"]
The rook had captured a pawn, resulting in a check. The rook is supported by the Queen, but the Queen itself is pinned by the…
user638473
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2
votes
2 answers
When to weaken king's position to attack opponent's king with pawns?
I have seen few times, masters use their f,g,h pawn to attack opponent's king (even if the player castled kingside). Whenever I see a weak position of king, I suspect, king is "under attack" (not now, but sooner it will be). What's the philosophy…
Billy Istiak
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-1
votes
1 answer
Why does Stockfish evaluates the trade of a B vs N that bad, while the trade has the King in the open and doubles pawns?
In this position (White to play)
(Picture credits to the chess compass extension that analyzes a chess.com game after it ended)
The current Stockfish evaluation (before White plays) is ~0.0.
But SF would give a -0.8 (+0.8 for Black) if Bg5 takes…
Déjà vu
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