Pry Open The H-File, Sac, Sac ... Mate!

Pry Open The H-File, Sac, Sac ... Mate!

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Pry Open The H-File, Sac, Sac ... Mate!

In My 60 Memorable Games, Bobby Fischer coined this phrase when discussing how to slay the Sicilian Dragon. He won a brilliant attacking game with the Yugoslav Attack against Bent Larsen. However, this is sage advice for any opposite sides castling position where your opponent has a fianchettoed king.

In my last game of the stream, my opponent played the super solid Philidor's Defense. Instead of developing his dark square bishop to e7, my opponent surprisingly decided to play a fianchetto. Therefore, I decided to castle to the queenside and play for an attack. I knew I would have better attacking chances than my opponent because his position had a hook and mine did not. In this case, the hook is the g6 pawn which I could use to pry open the h-file.

Watch my analysis below to see how Fischer's advice won me the game:

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