Level 3 · 7 min · 10 puzzles
Pins and skewers
Attack along a line, and win what’s behind.
Practise it
Puzzle 1 of 10
Black to move
Find the move that pins a piece.
White just moved the bishop from h6 to c1.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
- 1Pin: the front piece cannot move without losing what is behind it.
- 2Skewer: the valuable piece in front must move, and you take what is behind.
- 3Only bishops, rooks and queens can do either.
The longer explanation
Bishops, rooks and queens. Those three pieces attack along straight lines, and a line gives you two tricks. In both, two enemy pieces end up on the same line, with yours attacking the first.
The pin. The front piece is worth less than the one behind it, or the one behind it is the king. If the front piece moves, you take what it was protecting, so it is stuck, and easy to attack again.
The skewer. The reverse. The front piece is the valuable one (often the king), so it has to move out of the way, and then you take the piece that was behind it.