Destroying the Opponent’s Castled King

Knowing how to attack is an essential part of the chess struggle. An attack can emerge for several reasons – a poor coordination of the opponent’s pieces or a weakness in his king’s shelter could be enough to launch a direct offensive. However, there are other types of attacks that arise very often and this is the situation when the kings are castled on opposite wings. In such positions, the most common method of starting an attack is by throwing the pawns at the castle in order to create weaknesses in the opponent’s pawn structure and open the lines. In this article we are going to explore such techniques with some very nice examples of direct attacks against the castle.