Tactics Lesson 4 Index

King in the Center. A King in one of the four central files (the center files d & e, or castled King in files c or f) on the home rank presents significant focused tactical and strategical attacks. A decision to forego applying the principle of castling early in a game is one that should be done cautiously and with much anticipation for concerted attacks by the opponent. Lesson 3 on Entombed Kings included exploration of mating nets employing entombment and checkmating of an opposing King at a corner square. This lesson is centered on developing and exploiting the weakness of an opposing King that is left hanging out in a central file on its home rank on the chessboard. The problems cover a range of strategical goals utilizing a range of tactical moves and pawn advances alone and in combinations including forks and fork checks, pins, double attacks, and so on. The solution [and any variation(s)] for each problem with annotation and commentary follow the problem’s board.