The Greek Gift: Bxh7+

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8.1 A Gift That Is Not a Gift

The bishop sacrifice on h7 (or on h2, when Black does it) is the most famous attacking idea in chess. It has been known for about four hundred years: the Italian player Gioachino Greco already showed it in the early 17th century. It is called the Greek Gift, after the wooden horse that the Greeks left at the gates of Troy — a present that hides an army.

The idea is always the same. White gives up the bishop with ♗xh7+, pulling the black king out of its shelter. Then the knight jumps in with ♘g5+, and the queen follows to the h-file. Against a king without defenders, three pieces are enough to give mate or win back much more than the bishop.

8.2 The Five-Point Checklist

Before you play ♗xh7+, check these five points. The more of them are true, the better the sacrifice works.

1. The bishop hits h7, and h7 is defended only by the king. Usually the bishop is on d3, c2 or b1. A black knight on f6 would defend h7 — that is why a white pawn on e5, which drives the knight away, is so useful.

2. The knight can reach g5.

A knight on f3 jumps to g5 with check. Look at who can capture it there: a bishop on e7, a queen on d8 or a pawn on h6 can change everything.

3. The queen can reach the h-file quickly.

From d1, the queen needs the road d1–h5 to be free. From e1 or e2 the queen can go to h4 or h5 just as well.

4. Black cannot bring defenders in time.

Ask which black pieces could come to help: a knight to f6 or f8, a bishop to f5, a rook that frees f8 for the king.

5. You have calculated all three king moves.

After ♗xh7+ the king can go back to g8, forward to g6, or to h6 — and sometimes it can decline the bishop with ♔h8. Each needs its own answer.

8.3 The Three King Moves

After 1.♗xh7+ ♔xh7 2.♘g5+ the king has three main choices. Learn the typical answer to each:

King

Typical answer Idea

move 2...♔g8 3.♕h5 The queen threatens ♕h7# and ♕xf7+. Black

must give up material or be mated.

2...♔g6 3.♕g4 or 3.♕d3+ The king is in the open. The queen checks and

attacks from the side, often with ♕g4 threatening a discovered check by the knight.

2...♔h6 3.♕g4 or 3.♕d3 The king stands on the same diagonal as White's

bishop on c1, with only the knight in between. If that bishop is still at home, every knight move gives a discovered check.

These are only typical answers. In every real position you must check them against the defender's resources — that is exactly what the worked examples do.

8.4 Worked Examples

For each example, run through the checklist before you read the solution. Some of these sacrifices work, and some do not.