Total War
Hello! Today we will be learning how to carry out a lightning attack against the opponent's king. Once you create a temporary weakness in the opponent's king position, it is important to act quickly before your advantage dissappears. Although many players understand this urgency, they do not know how to pull off the blitz attack.
While attacking the opponent's king, it is important to focus on
1. Blasting open the position,
2. Rushing your pieces towards the opponent's king, and
3. Looking out for tactics.
In order to quickly checkmate the opponent, you must transport your pieces to agressive positions with speed -- you need something to checkmate with! This is best accomplished through opening up the center. Then bishops and rooks can quickly get into the action. While putting your pieces closer to the opponent's king, look out for tactical tricks. When the king is weak, many moves which would otherwise not be possible can be played, and some of these moves may allow you to win some material or more. The following game shows how to apply these ideas:
This short game was very fun to play, but black's attack would not have been so powerful had he not played with precision. Immediately after castling, black transfered the f-rook to c8, effectively putting both of his rooks into the struggle on the queenside. Black wasted no time in blasting open the queenside with b5, not letting white set up any defences or mount a counter-attack against my king. Black was alert for tactics, and this allowed him to see Bxc5 which wins because of white's exposed king and black's active rook.
Finally, black wasted no time in the attack by playing Rc3 and Rxc2, winning the game before white could try to make his king more safe. When your opponent's king is in an exposed position, try to open the position and activate your pieces and you may be able to win a game like this one through a crushing sacrificial attack.