Chess tactics
The pin: a piece that cannot move
A pin freezes an enemy piece against a more valuable one behind it. It can’t move without giving up the piece in the rear — so you pile up on it and win it.
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An absolute pin is against the king: moving the pinned piece would be illegal. A relative pin is against a queen or rook: moving is merely expensive. Either way, a pinned piece is a bad defender — it can’t capture, can’t chase, can’t guard. Add an attacker, and the pinned piece falls.
How to spot it
- Bishops, rooks and queens pin along their lines — rank, file, or diagonal.
- Find an enemy piece on the same line as its king or queen with nothing between.
- Once a piece is pinned, attack it again — it can’t run.
From the corpus
Three real pins, each verified by Stockfish at depth 22. Click any one to solve it.
More tactics
Forks
A fork is a single piece attacking two or more enemy pieces at the same time. Your opponent can only save one — you take the other.
Skewers
A skewer attacks a valuable piece in front; when it steps aside, the piece behind it on the same line falls.
Discovered attacks
A discovered attack moves one piece out of the way to open fire from the piece behind it. Two threats land at once, and your opponent often can’t meet both.
Deflection
A defender is doing important work — guarding a mating square, holding a piece. Deflection gives it something it can’t refuse, and once it moves, what it guarded falls.
Trapped pieces
A trapped piece has no safe square. It’s still on the board, but it can’t get out — so you win it at your leisure.
Back-rank mates
A rook or queen reaches the back rank and mates a king boxed in by its own unmoved pawns. With no escape square, one heavy piece ends it.