Greek gift — what it means in chess
The bishop sacrifice Bxh7+ to tear open a castled king.
The bishop sacrifice Bxh7+ to tear open a castled king.
The Greek gift is the classical bishop sacrifice on h7 (or h2): the bishop captures the pawn in front of the castled king, the king takes, and a knight arrives on g5 with check while the queen swings toward h5. It is the oldest and most studied attacking pattern in chess, and the conditions for it are precise enough to be a checklist: a bishop aimed at h7, a knight able to reach g5, a queen able to reach the h-file, and — the detail most often missed — a pawn on e5 that denies the f6 defense.
[[board startfen="r1bq1rk1/pppn1ppp/4p3/3pP3/3P4/3B1N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 w - - 0 1" pgn="1. Bxh7+ Kxh7 2. Ng5+ Kg8 3. Qh5" caption="The Greek gift: bishop given on h7, knight with check, queen to h5 — the classical machinery." notes="White to move. Every condition is met: the bishop on d3, the knight on f3, the open path to h5, and the e5 pawn covering f6. Bxh7+ — the gift. Declining it leaves Black a pawn down with a broken shelter, so the king usually accepts. Kxh7 — accepted. Ng5+ — the knight comes with check. The e5 pawn is why no knight can appear on f6 to block the coming queen. Kg8 — the safest retreat. The greedy walk with Kg6 runs into the queen and bishop hunting in the open. Qh5 — the third piece joins, and mate on h7 is the threat. Defenses exist in some versions of the position, which is exactly why the checklist matters before the bishop leaps."]]
The Greek gift is a sacrifice with a syllabus — the standard example of giving material against a castled king by pattern rather than raw calculation.
The Endgame Society glossary defines more than 240 chess terms — rules, notation, tactics, strategy, pawn structures, endgames, and openings — in language a beginner can act on rather than dictionary shorthand.