attack · recognise → explain → apply

Clear your own bishop’s diagonal with a pawn sacrifice

Your pawn blocks an attacking bishop and can move with threats.

Explanation styleChoose any style. Age is not playing strength; no birth date is needed.

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Choose an example

Alexander Alekhine – Frank Marshall

Baden-Baden · 1925.??.?? · 1-0

20... Nd5 · White to move

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What to notice at 20... Nd5

Alekhine’s 21.f6 created immediate pressure near Black’s king. The later Bc4 and pawn advances show how diagonal activity and pawn threats can reinforce one another.

A legally replayed historical example, not a claim that every move is best. A game’s result does not prove every defensive position was lost or drawn.

Game source ↗

Your thinking first

Name the signal, choose a plan, and test the opponent’s most challenging response.

What do you notice?What is your plan, and why?How could the opponent resist?

Recall and explain

1. Your pawn blocks an attacking bishop and can move with threats. How would you apply “clear your own bishop’s diagonal with a pawn sacrifice”, and which defensive reply must you check?

Explain it in your own words before revealing.

Make it memorable

Move your own blocker with a purpose.

Teach this to a friend in one minute. Then return to a different example and look for the same signal without being told its name.

Reflect and revisit

This is your self-assessment, not an engine grade or a promise of mastery.

Connect the ideas

Practise pawn transformations →

Sources and further reading

Original LumaChess teaching and game analysis. Topic references are credited below; no affiliation or endorsement is implied.