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Lesson 10 - Tactics-Pins&Skewers

The document discusses the chess tactics of pins and skewers, where a piece of lesser value is attacked and cannot move without exposing a piece of greater value behind it. It provides examples of pins against kings, queens, and pawns as well as skewers against kings and rooks. It also discusses how to defend against and capitalize on pins.

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Jithu Gopinath G S
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161 views

Lesson 10 - Tactics-Pins&Skewers

The document discusses the chess tactics of pins and skewers, where a piece of lesser value is attacked and cannot move without exposing a piece of greater value behind it. It provides examples of pins against kings, queens, and pawns as well as skewers against kings and rooks. It also discusses how to defend against and capitalize on pins.

Uploaded by

Jithu Gopinath G S
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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There are two tactics in Chess which are very similar, so we will examine them together; they

are called pins and skewers. A pin is when a piece of lesser value is pinned to a piece of greater
value. Skewers are the opposite of pins. A skewer is when a piece of greater value is attacked,
exposing a piece of lesser value behind.
In the first example, the black knight at d7 is pinned twice. The knight is pinned to the
Queen because, if the knight moves, the white bishop at g4 can capture the black queen. The most
powerful type of pin is when a piece is pinned against the enemy king. For example, the black
knight is also pinned against the king because, if it moves, it will expose the king to check by whites
rook on d1. Pins are effective because they can completely eliminate a pieces influence, more on
that idea in a moment.

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Pinned knight
In the example of a skewer, the white rook has skewered the king by issuing check. The
king must move out of the way, thereby exposing the black rook to capture. Skewers are often very
effective in capturing material in the endgame.

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Skewered Rook

Lets turn our attention back to pins and study them in a little more detail. A pin is primarily
effective because it removes options from your opponent. In the first example below, we see after
(1. e4 e6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Bg5), white has indirectly defended the king pawn at e4. After black brought
out the knight to attack the e4 pawn, white can defend several ways. One way is to directly defend
the pawn by moving Nc3, however, that exposes the knight to its own pin by blacks move Bb4.
White has several options, but we see here how the knight is pinned against the Queen. It would be
most undesirable to capture the e4 pawn (Nxe4) because black would lose his queen (Bxd8). In
order to take the bishop, the black king would sacrifice the right to castle. The key lesson here is
that a pin is effective because it attacks a piece, and it reduces its targets influence.

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Early pinned knight


In the next example, we see a common type of pin. Blacks queen seems to be easily
captured by whites g-pawn, however, that pawn cannot capture because it is pinned by blacks rook
at g6. At this point, there is very little white can do to save the game. This type of pawn pin is
especially effective in endgames because, if we see them, we can maneuver our pieces into positions
that would otherwise be unavailable.

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Pawn pin

Another common type of pin is the piece pin. In the Queen example below, white would
like to capture blacks d4 pawn with his e3 pawn. However, this would expose the white queen to
capture by the black queen. Pins can also attack squares, much like forks. In the example below, we
see that the black knight is pinned to square d8 because, if the knight moves, the rook will issue
checkmate by (Rd8++).

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Pinned, Piece

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Pinned, square

On the defensive hand, there are four ways to get out of a pin. Should you find one of your
pieces pinned: 1) take the pinning piece, 2) attack the pinning piece, 3) block the pin with a less
valuable piece, or 4) move the piece of greater value out of the way. In example #1, we see that
black can simply capture the rook to release the pinned knight. In the next example, we see that
black has several options to release the pinned knight. Black can attack the white bishop (Rf8),
block the pin with a pawn (e5), or move the Queen away, thereby releasing the knight (perhaps
Qb6+). Be on the lookout for your opponents options for defending before deciding on pinning
his piece.

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Pin Defense #1

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Pin Defense #2, #3, #4

When you pin a piece, it is important to capitalize on your opportunity to gain an advantage.
Very briefly, Id like to introduce the idea of attacking a pinned piece twice. Whenever possible, its
a good idea to attack a pinned piece twice so that it doesnt get away. In the diagram, we see the
black knight is pinned against the king. If black moves first the king can move away, releasing the
rook. Perhaps he will move to e7 which breaks the pin while still protecting the rook. However, if
white is to move first, its obviously not a good idea to capture the rook (Qxe6) because the king will
then take the queen. However, if white uses this chance to double attack the rook, d5, then it
doesnt matter what black does, the rook will fall to whites hands. This is a very brief introduction
to utilizing pins, but take the lesson and practice, practice, practice

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Skewers
We will only examine skewers briefly since they are so similar to pins. In a pin, the more
valuable piece is behind the attacked piece. A skewer is just the opposite; the more valuable piece
lies in front of the desired capture. In the example below, white is short on material and is facing
defeat. However, a skewer quickly draws the game, Bg2. This checks the black king, forcing him
out of the way so that the bishop can capture the queen. Black will recapture the bishop, and the
game will be a draw.

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Pins and skewers, when used appropriately can be great attacks, look for opportunities to use them,
and defend mightily against them!

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