- Luft
Chess diagram|=
tright
= 8 | | | | |rd| | |kd|= 7 | | | | | | | | |= 6 | | | | | | | | |= 5 | | | | | | | | |= 4 | | | | | | | | |= 3 | | | | | | | | |= 2 | | | | | |pl|pl|pl|= 1 | | | | | | | |kl|= a b c d e f g h
White needs to give his king "luft" to avoid a back rank checkmate."Luft", the German word for "air" (sometimes also "space" or "breath"), is used by some
chess writers and commentators to denote a space left by a pawn move into which a castled king may move, especially such a space made with the intention of avoiding aback rank checkmate . A move leaving such a space is often said to "give the king some "luft".A simplified example is seen to the right. Black is threatening
checkmate with the simple 1...Re1# and White must deal with this threat. The right thing to do is to give the king some "luft" by moving a pawn on the "g" or "h" file: 1.g3, 1.g4, 1.h3 and 1.h4 should all be good enough to avoid immediate mate. After each, 1...Re1+ can be simply met with 2.Kg2 or 2.Kh2.Chess diagram|=
tright|
=
|kd| | | | | | |=
pd| |pd| | | | | |=
xo|pd|xo| | | | | |=
| | | | | | | |=
| | | | | | | |=
| | | | | | |pl|=
| | | | |pl|pl| |=
| | | | | |kl| |=
Black has a weak luft, White has a strong luft (Evans, 1967).It is usually better to move the h-pawn (or the a-pawn if the king is on the queenside) because moving the f-pawn can weaken the king's position and moving the g-pawn creates holes at f3 and h3 (or f6 and h6 for Black on the kingside). In the diagram, Black has a weak luft because of the holes on a6 and c6; White has a strong luft, without holes Harvcol|Evans|1967|pp=52-53.ee also
*
Flight square References
* Citation
surname1=Evans|given1=Larry|authorlink1=Larry Evans
title=New Ideas in Chess
year=1967
publisher=Cornerstone Library (1984 Dover edition)
ID=ISBN 0-486-28305-4
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
