King Safety and Luft

King safety means keeping the king out of danger. Luft is a pawn move that gives a castled king a square to move to.

Castle for safety

White plays O-O. The king moves from the center to g1, behind its own pawns.

FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

a b c d e f g h
8 r n b q k b n r 8
7 p p p p p p p p 7
6 . . . . . . . . 6
5 . . . . . . . . 5
4 . . . . . . . . 4
3 . . . . . . . . 3
2 P P P P P P P P 2
1 R N B Q K B N R 1
  a b c d e f g h

Luft with h3

White plays h3 after castling. The pawn move gives the king on g1 the square h2 to move to if needed.

FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

a b c d e f g h
8 r n b q k b n r 8
7 p p p p p p p p 7
6 . . . . . . . . 6
5 . . . . . . . . 5
4 . . . . . . . . 4
3 . . . . . . . . 3
2 P P P P P P P P 2
1 R N B Q K B N R 1
  a b c d e f g h

A king left in the center

White has not castled and the king still stands on e1. The king in the center can be attacked along the open e file.

FEN: r1bqk2r/pppp1ppp/2n5/2b1p3/2B1P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 1

a b c d e f g h
8 r . b q k . . r 8
7 p p p p . p p p 7
6 . . n . . . . . 6
5 . . b . p . . . 5
4 . . B . P . . . 4
3 . . . . . N . . 3
2 P P P P . P P P 2
1 R N B Q K . . R 1
  a b c d e f g h

Key points

Castle early in the opening. A king in the center is open to attack from many directions.
Keep pawns in front of a castled king. Those pawns shield the king from attacks along files and diagonals.
Luft is a pawn move in front of a castled king, such as h3 after kingside castling.
Luft gives the king a square to move to if the back rank becomes dangerous.
The squares f7 for Black and f2 for White are weak in the opening, because only the king defends them at the start.

Try it Yourself

Edit the code, then press Run.

Running is simulated · Rust Playground

Exercise

After castling kingside, which pawn move gives luft?

h3 a3 b3 c3