Defending when under attack

Successful defence of a position when you're under attack is difficult. Here are a few tips (from Matthew Sadler's book Game Changer):

• Open the centre to get counterplay against your opponent. An attacker who is not under pressure will always prevail
• Deflect pieces aware from the attack if you can, e.g. drag a bishop away from a dangerous attacking diagonal
• To slow down their attack use your active pieces to discomfit and annoy the opponent's attacking pieces
• Weaken the opponent's king. In the long run, counterplay is the only thing that can save you