Luft
In chess, luft (the German word for "air", sometimes also "space" or "breath") designates the space or square left by a pawn move into which a king (usually a castled one) may then retreat, especially such a space made intentionally to avoid back-rank checkmate. A move leaving such a space is often said to "give the king some luft". The term "luft", "lufting", or "lufted" may also be used (as an English participle) to refer to the movement of the relevant pawn creating luft.[1]
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Preventing an opponent from lufting a pawn (for example by pinning it or moving a piece to the square in front of it) is a tactic that may lead to checkmate. A king's access to his luft might also be denied by the opponent subjecting the area to attack.
The German "luft" is a close-heterograph to the English "lift"; e.g., rook lift and pawn luft.
Examples
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See also
References
- "Queen Sacrifices" on YouTube (At the 45:26 mark, GM Ben Finegold of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Atlanta examines a game lost because the player is unable to luft due to his own pieces blockading his pawns.)
- Evans, Larry (1958), New Ideas in Chess, Pitman (1984 Dover edition), ISBN 0-486-28305-4