Attacking Chess

Introduction

Most players who love to attack do not lack courage. They lack timing. GM Sipke Ernst, a Dutch grandmaster who works mainly as a coach, saw the same pattern again and again in his students: the attack begins because it feels like the right kind of chess, not because the position has asked for it.

This course is built around that judgment call. It opens with the signals that make an attack promising: few defenders around the king and enough attackers nearby, a lead in development, extra space on the side where the king lives, open lines or weaknesses in its cover. Then it turns the question around and looks at attacks that should never have been started, and at how calmly they were refuted.

The middle chapters are about conducting the attack. When to stop calculating and simply bring one more piece. How a quiet prophylactic move can do more for the attack than another threat. Why a flank attack depends on who controls the centre. The last chapter deals with attacking from a bad position, when chaos is the best practical chance.

The examples run from Botvinnik in 1943 to a girls' U18 world championship game from 2025, with Petrosian, Smyslov, Spassky, Kasparov and Carlsen along the way, and eight games from Ernst's own career.