- Bishops often take the scenic route, weaving from side to side to reach their target. Their paths are the diagonals
- There are four key diagonals in the opening game of chess, at least in the classical open games:
- Italian diagonal -- the one in the Italian Game leading to f7, a2-g8 (Schiffers-Harmonist)
- Greek diagonal -- the one leading to h7, b1-h7, named for the 'Greek gift' sacrifice on that square, as illustrated by many examples from El Greco
- long diagonal -- the longest diagonal, a1-h8 (and a8-h1) (Rohde-Bonin)
- Fool's diagonal -- the short one e1-h4 (or e8-h5) from which the King can be checked (or checkmated)
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "DSB Kongress-05 Meisterturnier"]
[Site "Frankfurt"]
[Date "1887.07.25"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Schiffers, Emanuel Stepanovich"]
[Black "Harmonist, Max"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]
[Annotator "attack: Italian diagonal"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "1887.07.18"]
[EventRounds "21"]
[EventCountry "GER"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 {The Italian Game, the Giuoco Piano} 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+
8. Nbxd2 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Qb3 Nce7 {White has a battery on the Italian diagonal} 11. O-O O-O 12. Rfe1 c6 13. a4 Qc7 14.
Rac1 Nf4 (14... Qf4) 15. Ng5 Neg6 16. Re8 Rxe8 17. Bxf7+ Kh8 18. Bxe8 Ne2+ 19.
Kh1 Nxc1 20. Nf7+ Kg8 21. Nh6+ Kf8 22. Qg8+ Ke7 23. Bxg6 hxg6 (23... gxh6 24.
Qf7+ Kd6 25. Ne4#) 24. Qxg7+ Kd8 25. Qf8+ Kd7 26. Ne4 Qd8 27. Qd6+ Ke8 28. Nf6+
1-0
[Event "Greco"]
[Site "Europe"]
[Date "1620.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Greco, Gioacchino"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C01"]
[Annotator "sacrifice: Bxh7"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "1620.??.??"]
[EventCountry "ITA"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bd3 Nc6 4. Nf3 Be7 (4... Bb4+ 5. c3 Ba5 6. h4 O-O 7. e5
Nd5 8. Bxh7+ Kxh7 9. Ng5+ Kg8 10. Qh5 Re8 11. Qxf7+ Kh8 12. Qh5+ Kg8 13. Qh7+
Kf8 14. Qh8+ Ke7 15. Qxg7#) 5. h4 O-O 6. e5 Nd5 7. Bxh7+ Kxh7 8. Ng5+ Bxg5 (
8... Kg8 9. Qh5 Bxg5 10. hxg5 f5 (10... f6 11. g6) 11. g6 {1-0 (11) Greco,
G-Anon sacrifice on h7 by B (Greek G 1792 }) (8... Kg6 9. h5+ Kh6 (
9... Kf5 10. Qf3+ (10. g4#) 10... Nf4 11. Qxf4#)) 9. hxg5+ Kg6 10. Qh5+ (10.
Qd3+ f5 11. gxf6+ Kf7 12. Rh7 Rg8 13. Qg3 Qf8 14. Bh6 Ke8) 10... Kf5 11. Qh7+
g6 12. Qh3+ Ke4 13. Qd3# {1-0 (13) Greco,G-NN Europe 1620} 1-0
[Event "New York op 12"]
[Site "01"]
[Date "1989.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rohde, Michael"]
[Black "Bonin, Jay R"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E16"]
[Annotator "diagonals"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "1989.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. g3 b6 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. c4 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Be7 7. Nc3 c5 8. d5
exd5 9. Nh4 Ne4 10. Nf5 O-O 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. cxd5 Nd6 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. O-O
f5 15. Bf4 Na6 16. Qa4 Nc7 17. Rae1 Nce8 18. f3 g5 19. Bc1 b5 20. Qc2 Nc4 21.
e3 Rc8 22. a4 a6 23. b3 Ncd6 24. e4 fxe4 25. fxe4 Rxf1+ 26. Bxf1 Nf5 27. Bb2 c4
28. bxc4 bxc4 29. Qc3 {[#] White has a battery on the long diagonal. In the finish, the neighbouring Italian diagonal plays a role too} Qc5+ 30. Kg2 Nfg7 31. Rc1 Qe7 32. Qe5 Qb4 33. Qd4
Qxa4 34. d6 Qb4 35. Rxc4 Rxc4 36. Bxc4+ Kh8 37. Qe5 Qb8 38. Bf7 1-0
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Fool's diagonal"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "11"]
1. e4 (1. f4 e6 (1... e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 {threat: Qh4+ and Qxg3+} 4. a3
(4. Nf3 g5 5. h3 Bg3# {Kuan-Waters, ECC Gambit tournament 200?}) 4... Qh4+ 5.
g3 Qxg3+ 6. hxg3 Bxg3#) 2. g4 Qh4#) 1... e5 2. Nf3 f6 3. Nxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 (
4... Ke7 5. Qxe5+ Kf7 6. Bc4+ {1-0 (6) Pritchard-Hempel,J corr 1967}) 5. Qxe5+
Qe7 6. Qxh8 {1-0 (6) Chaux,J-Mendez Rada,H Ortega 2013} *