Ask Coach Jessica: Opening the Castled King's File

 

Aloha ChessKids! Today I will answer EarthyZest's question: "How do I open up a castled king's file?" Great question! It does require some aggressive methods. You will not be able to break open the castle walls by playing defense. You will have to cross the line of scrimmage and attack with your whole team of pieces! By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl).


There are different patterns you could try. I like the following idea very much. One of my students described it as throwing a grappling hook over the edge of the castle wall. I like that description!

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I haven't set up the whole board, so now you can focus on the attack itself. White simply uses a pawn to destroy the whole castle! Black cannot capture, of course, because the g-pawn is absolutely pinned. If he stays there, where is your mate-in-one?
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And if the pawn pushes forward, how does the queen sneak in?
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So one way to open the king's file is by using a pawn and putting pressure on g7. Another way to do it is to aim at f7 a whole bunch. Since Black is castled, he/she will have two pieces guarding f7 now, a rook and king. That means you'll need how many attackers? Three! I once saw FunMasterMike beat a whole classroom of kids with this type of attack on the king...blindfolded!
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With the three attackers on f7, Black was super doomed. If the rooks had been connected at least an immediate checkmate could have been avoided though. He probably should have tried something like ...d5 and ...Na5, but his position is really hard to defend.
 
Another way to open a castled king's file, is to first aim at the edge or h-pawn. Let's look at Black winning now. Of course both sides can do these tricks, right? Two powerful bishops aiming at the king can be deadly!
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When Black threatens an immediate checkmate on h2, there is only one thing White can do to stop it (in this position, minus all the other pieces). What should White do?
 
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And after g3, how does Black change plans slightly? There is a new weak diagonal, because you've broken into the castle!
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There are many ways to open a castled king's file, but I hope you will remember these common patterns! Both sides can create the attacks, and usually, in your games, whoever is the faster attacker wins! Be sure to focus on your plan, while at the same time asking yourself, "What's the threat?" when your opponent moves. They are also trying to checkmate you!
 

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