You “pin” an opponents piece when you use a queen, rook, or bishop to attack a valuable piece “through” a less valuable “interposing” piece. This forces the pinned, interposing piece to remain still: moving it would expose the piece behind it to attack. Once a piece is pinned, it is often worthwhile to pile more attackers on the helplessly immobile piece.
Here’s an example:
This is a position that emerges from an opening called the Riga variation of the Ruy Lopez. No need to remember that – we won’t be studying openings in depth here at Patzer Chess. For the curious, though, it’s worth Googling.
Here moving the rook to e1 (Re1) pins black’s knight at e4. The knight can’t move, because moving the knight would expose the king to an attack from white’s rook. This pin, in fact, is called a “royal pin” or an “absolute pin,” because it is actually illegal for black to move in such a way that would expose its king to an attack.
Now black can pile the attacks on black’s knight (say, moving the Queen to d3, or the knight to d3) , which must remain helplessly still until the pin is removed (say, by moving black’s bishop to e7, putting another piece between the knight and king).
Let’s look at some other examples:
In this diagram, white has a royal pin on the knight at e6. At the same time, black has a “relative” pin (or just a “pin”) on white’s knight at f4. Moving the knight would expose white’s rook to an attack from black’s bishop.
Pins emerge quite often in chess. A pin can often help you remove an attack threat from one of your pieces by holding the attacking piece immobile. Combined with the other tactics we’ll cover over the next several weeks, pins can be one of the most valuable tactical elements in your repertoire.
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2010.04.14"]
[White "law8284"]
[Black "Patzer1"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C20"]
[WhiteElo "1321"]
[BlackElo "1775"]
[Annotator "Patzer1"]
[PlyCount "46"]
{C20: 1 e4 e5: Unusual White second moves} 1. e4 e5 2. b3 {Not sure what this
move was supposed to accomplish. Not a standard opening. Make sure every
move you make has a purpose. He may have been making room for his bishop to
emerge?} Nf6 {Threatening e4} 3. d3 {Defending e4} d5 {Attacking e4 again.
Two attacks could win this pawn.} 4. Bg5 {Pins my knight. Now I can’t take
the pawn on e4 because I can’t move my knight (or I’ll lose my queen to his
bishop).} dxe4 {I figure I’ll exchange these pawns. If he recaptures dxe4,
I’ll take his Queen with mine (Qxd1). He’d have to recapture my queen with
his king. Moving your king prevents it from castling in the future, leaving
it vulnerable.} 5. Bxf6 {He’d rather exchange knight for bishop. This gives
me a slight advantage. I have the "bishop pair" (having both bishops means
they can work together). It also opens up a file for my kingside rook.} gxf6
6. h3 Bb4+ {Puts white in check, but I’m not sure what I was thinking here.
Putting the opponent in check is only worthwhile if it’s difficult for him to
escape. I just hung my bishop (left it undefended) and almost trapped it.} 7.
c3 Ba5 8. b4 Bb6 {My bishop is on the run, and white has regained a lot of
space. It was dumb to go after a check for no reason.} 9. a4 Bf5 {A better
move was probably a5, giving my bishop a path to escape. If he moves a5, my
bishop is kind of stuck.} 10. d4 {Not sure what he was thinking here. exd4
"undoubles" my pawns, so they’re back to a protective line again.} exd4 11. a5
{Bishop is now trapped.} Bxa5 12. Rxa5 Be6 {Moves my bishop to safety.} 13.
cxd4 Nc6 {Two attacks on d4. I’d love to capture it with my queen.} 14. Bb5 {
Pins my knight to my king.} Qe7 {Now I’m looking to Qxb4, forking the king and
rook.} 15. d5 {He thinks this is an effective fork (pawn attacking bishop and
knight). A castle will get me out of this jam...} O-O-O {Now my rook pins his
pawn, so it can’t attack my bishop or knight. If it did, he’d lose his queen
to my rook.} 16. Bxc6 {He looks to exchange knight for bishop. Not sure why.
I’m the one who is cramped, so exchanges tend to be favorable for me. He may
have just thought that his rook was threatened after my castle, and wanted to
protect it. I have other plans, though....} Qxb4+ (16... bxc6 $2 {looks
tempting, but} 17. Qa4 Bxd5 18. Nc3 $18) 17. Qd2 {He threatens my queen and
protects both his queen and rook, but leaves his knight defenseless. Oops!}
Qxb1+ 18. Ke2 bxc6 {NOW I take bishop. I’m up 3 pawns now, with my rook
pointing at his queen, and my queen eyeing his king. At this point I have the
decisive advantage.} 19. Rxa7 (19. Qa2 {wouldn’t do it for him:} Qd3+ 20. Ke1
Bxd5 $19) 19... Qb5+ (19... Rxd5 $142 {would have been an even better move:}
20. Ra8+ Kb7 $19 {and he has to chose between losing a rook or losing a queen.}
) 20. Ke1 Rxd5 21. Qf4 {He’s looking for me to make a mistake. He wants to
move Qxc7 # (checkmate). Too bad for him I see a mate in 3-4 moves.} Qb1+ 22.
Ke2 (22. Qc1 {wouldn’t save him after} Qxc1+ 23. Ke2 Qd2+ 24. Kf1 Qd1#) 22...
Qd3+ 23. Ke1 {Forced.} Qd1# {...and mate. His biggest weakness was his
inability to castle. That left his king vulnerable to my attacks while he was
trying to break down my king’s defenses.} 0-1
When you’re just starting to study chess, it can be difficult to know where to focus your efforts. Chess study can be broken down into several different fields:
Openings
Middlegame
Endgame
Tactics
Strategy
Positioning
For beginners, the most rapid improvement comes from studying tactics. In this series of articles, I will explore a new tactic every Tuesday. By learning these tactics and looking for opportunities to use them in your games, you will see rapid improvement.
The important concept to understand here is that unless you’re playing against an absolute beginner who leaves pieces undefended (hanging), you will need to use your pieces in combination to capture enemy material. That is, you will need to attack multiple pieces at a time, or attack an enemy piece with multiple pieces of your own, in order to capture material.
We’ll be looking at the following tactics:
Pins – Hold an enemy piece immobile while you pile on the attacks
Skewers – Threaten a valuable piece, and when that piece escapes, strike the piece behind it.
Forks - Attack multiple pieces at once. Your opponent can’t defend them all.
Discovered Attacks – Move a piece to reveal a deadly attack coming from behind it.
Remove the Defender – Chase off the defender of your target piece, leaving it helpless.
Stay tuned as we explore these tactics over the next few weeks.
Which of these tactics sounds the most useful? Do you see these patterns emerging in your play, even if you didn’t know the name of them?
This is a position that emerges from an opening called the Riga variation of the Ruy Lopez. No need to remember that – we won’t be studying openings in depth here at Patzer Chess. For the curious, though, it’s worth Googling.
In this diagram, white has a royal pin on the knight at e6. At the same time, black has a “relative” pin (or just a “pin”) on white’s knight at f4. Moving the knight would expose white’s rook to an attack from black’s bishop.
