The fianchetto setup is one of the important structures in the game of chess. Although it may seem that it gives a perfect protection for the castled king, it can be used as a target. While there’s a feeling of safety, the opposing side can exploit that weakness. That is, the fianchetto pawn structure (the pawns on h7, g6, g7) and the dark squared bishop on g7 can be used as targets of attack.

But the question is how to attack the fianchetto structure? How to attack your opponent’s castled king when he or she has a fianchetto pawn structure? How to remove the key defender, the fianchetto bishop, and create a dark square weakness for your opponent?

This is exactly what our guest coach GM Sipke Ernst teaches you in his video lessons. In his first video lesson, he explains how to attack the g6 pawn. This is often a hook for your attack and the fianchetto pawn structure. You can watch the video lesson below:

You can download the PGN of the games mentioned above here.

In his second video lesson, explains how to attack or exchange the dark squared bishop (the fianchettoed bishop) which is the key defender of your opponent. He illustrates the two common ways of doing that. 1) Exchanging the dark squared bishop 2) Sacrificing your piece to get rid off the bishop. You can watch the video lesson below:

You can download the PGN of the games mentioned above here.