The Fried Liver attack is one of the most aggressive and effective openings in chess. I frequently use these in blitz games, and it serves as a perfect way to trap your opponent. If your opponent is careless, they can easily blunder their way into a swift checkmate for you. The game starts off simple, but within a few sacrifices of some pieces, you can draw your opponent into a threatening mating net. Let's take a look.

As you can see, black is in a horrible position. Their king is in the middle of the board, their pieces are undeveloped, and white has a great setup. Although white is down material, this superior position should make this an easy game to win.

Let's take a look at some variations...

Here instead of taking the rook on a1, the knight moves back to d4, which is a better move overall. Remember, in this attack, having active pieces is key to keeping the pressure on offensively as well as not failing on the defensive side. After white takes the knight on d5, the king's best move is to retreat to d6. White's queen can then move to g3, removing the threat from the knight as well as continuing the attack. From there. black may try to develop a piece, but after white plays d3, opening up the dark squared bishop, black will soon find themselves in a mating net.

In this second variation, instead of black's c6 knight moving to b4, it moves back to e7 giving further protection to the knight on d5. From this point, white can castle kingside, preparing for the rook to get involved in the game. In response to this, a common move played by black is c6, which again, provides protection for the pinned d5 knight. Then white can move their rook to e1, getting ready to play d4 and activate their dark squared bishop. Black has a couple responses to this, but once white's dark squared bishop is activated, its game over for black... their liver has been completely fried.

You may be wondering now how you can defend this attack. This is a common attack and it is key that you neutralize this threat early on in the game, to keep your chances of victory high. Let's go over a few strategies...

Here in this setup, you can respond aggressively back. Instead of playing two knights defense, you can sacrifice your pawn on e5, and start to create a pathway to victory. After white's knight takes your pawn, you can develop your queen to g5. White's knight will 9/10 take the pawn on f7, forking your queen and rook. You can capture the pawn on g2, also attacking their rook. If white takes your rook(which most likely he will) you can capture his as well and give check. White's only option is to protect with their bishop, but after taking the pawn on e2, black is at a significant advantage and has multiple pathways to victory.

Let's take a look at one more...

In this scenario, instead of recapturing the pawn on f5, play knight a5 and threaten the bishop. The only option for white is to retreat their knight, and then black can proceed to attack the knight and kick him away. Black's queen can then recapture, the pawn on f5 and in the end has a positional advantage. Their pieces are developed well, with open diagonals for the bishops and black on the other hand, is in a very awkward and disadvantaged position. The game should be easy to win from here.

So there you have it, "The Fried Liver Attack." This opening is a keeper and can help you win games decisively and easily if you practice enough. Your opponents will be utterly clueless on how to respond to this, and you can enjoy a well deserved, tasty victory.

Davis High School

Super Admins

Admins