Chess Patterns ❯ King Techniques ❯ Luft
Luft
Luft
Luft is a German word meaning "air" or "breath". In chess it refers to creating an escape square for the King, typically by moving a pawn in front of it. This prevents back rank checkmates and gives the King room to maneuver if needed.
In the diagram above, White has a strong attack on the d5-Bishop. Capturing it right away with 1.Rxd5? would be, however, a terrible mistake, as Black would happily sacrifice the Queen with 1...Qxd5 2.Rxd5, in order to deliver back rank mate with 2...Re1 3.Qxe1 Rxe1#. The right approach for White is to first give the castled King some luft with 1.h3! and only then proceed with the attack.
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Master the Luft Maneuver
When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on the concept of Luft. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this maneuver.
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Hacking Chess #103 - Making Luft Correctly
Watch this fast-paced short by the excellent xKlam YouTube channel and get in less than 60 seconds a very effective primer on what a Luft is and how to create one.
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In this nice, colorful video by Chess Kid you can see how the idea of Luft is strongly related to that of Back Rank Checkmate. Have a look at it.
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Understanding Back Rank Checkmates | How to Spot & Exploit Back Rank Weaknesses?
This is a very detailed lesson by You Me And Chess on Back Rank Checkmates. Lots of interesting examples and several techniques that help you identify weaknesses, including the lack of Luft for the King.
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A very well-thought-out book by Yasser Seirawan that works perfectly as a general introduction to tactics and combinations for beginners. Many precise definitions and clear examples.
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Sharpen your pattern recognition with this excellent work by Antonio Gude. Every tactic is here well organized. Luft is explained too.