How to do a Fianchetto in chess

Fianchettoing the bishop is easy, it only takes 2 moves:

1. Move Your Knight’s Pawn Forward

2. Move Your Bishop Behind Your Knight’s Pawn

Fianchetto Opening Examples
A few of the openings that use the fianchetto are:

1. King’s Indian Defense

2. Grunfeld Defense

3. Queen’s Indian

4. Sicilian Dragon

5. Larsen’s Opening

Here are some pros and cons to consider when you think about doing a Fianchetto:

Pros:

~A quick way to gain space on the kingside.
~It can be a solid defensive move if done correctly, especially against Queen Pawn openings.
~It’s a good opening for beginners because it’s not as complicated and offers more time to think about your moves than other types of chess positions do.
~It gives you more options for future moves.

Cons:

~Fianchetto can be a little bit dangerous and should only be played with a better understanding of the rest of your strategy in place.
~It creates a weak spot/hole when you move your pawn as it no longer defends the same squares.

Your opponent can take advantage of the hole it creates while moving to another square.

Yes by understanding the pros and cons you can definitely change your game for the better… but it goes without saying: Practice A Lot!

Pro Tip: Study the games where players used fianchetto openings or fianchettoed at all.

That’s it. Hope you learned something new today… Keep Hustling, Keep Playing Chess!

What do you think about fianchetto? Do you use fianchetto in your games? Let me know in the comments. 

-Emma