One of the most exciting parts about chess is the tactical maneuvers your pieces can conduct. Oftentimes, these techniques are the difference between winning and losing a match. Here are 5 of the most commonly seen tactics in every game!
All images were created on chess.com.
1. pins
A pin is where an opponent’s pawn/piece can’t move without exposing a higher valued piece to attack. There are 2 types of pins: relative pins and absolute pins. In an absolute pin, the piece cannot move because it would put the king in check. In a relative pin, however, the piece can legally move out of the way, sacrificing the piece behind it. A good way to exploit a pin is to pile attackers onto the pinned piece.
2. skewers
A skewer is similar to a pin, except that the higher value piece is IN FRONT of the lower valued piece. When the higher valued piece moves out of the line of attack, the attacking piece can capture the lower valued piece.
3. forks
A fork is when one of your pieces attacks 2 or more of your opponent’s pieces. A fork is especially powerful if it checks the opponent's king. Due to its unique movement style and ability to jump over pieces, the knight is especially good at creating forks.
4. Discovered attacks/checks
A discovered attack happens when a piece or pawn moves out of the way of another, revealing an attack from the latter piece. For example, if your knight was blocking your rook from attacking the enemy queen, moving the knight aside would create a discovered attack.
If the attack “revealed” is on your opponent's king, it is called a discovered check. Sometimes, this can “double-check” the enemy king. (put it in check by 2 pieces at once)
5. batteries
A battery is a tactic where your long-range pieces (rooks, bishops, queen) attack along the same file, rank, or diagonal. Oftentimes, this leads to complete control over the squares covered by the battery. This tactic can produce very powerful attacks, including checkmate.
