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Chess tactic
In chess, a tactic refers to a sequence of moves that limits the opponent's options and may result in tangible gain.
Tactics are usually contrasted with strategy, in which advantages take longer to be realized, and the opponent is less
constrained in responding.

The fundamental building blocks of tactics are move sequences in which the opponent is unable to respond to all
threats, so the first player realizes an advantage. This includes forks, skewers, batteries, discovered attacks,
undermining, overloading, deflection, pins, and interference.[1] The Encyclopedia of Chess Middlegames gives the
following tactics categories: Double Attack, Pawns Breakthrough, Blockade, Decoying, Discovered Attack, Passed
Pawn, X-ray Attack, Interception, Deflection, Pin, Demolition of Pawns, Overloading, Annihilation of Defense, Pursuit
(perpetual attack), Intermediate Move, and Space Clearance.

Often tactics of more than one type are conjoined in a combination.

Contents
Attacking and defending pieces
Gaining material
Discovered attack
Fork
Pin
Skewer
Pawns
Sacrifices
Zugzwang
Zwischenzug
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Attacking and defending pieces

A piece is said to attack (or threaten) an opponent's piece if, in the next move, it could capture that piece. A piece is
said to defend (or protect) a piece of the defender's color if, in case the defended piece were taken by the opponent, the
defender could immediately recapture. Attacking a piece usually, but not always (see Sacrifice), forces the opponent to
respond if the attacked piece is undefended, or if the attacking piece is of lower value than the one attacked.

When the piece attacked is a king, then a player has exactly three options:

capture the attacking piece;

move the king to a free square;
interpose another piece in between the two (if the attacker is not a knight and is not directly adjacent to the king
attacked).

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When the piece attacked is not a king, a player has more options:

capture the attacking piece;

move the attacked piece to a free or covered square;
move the attacked piece to a different attacked square, so you can choose where the capturing happens;
interpose another piece in between the two (if the attacker is not a knight and is not directly adjacent to the piece
attacked - attacking kings and pawns are adjacent always);
cover the attacked piece, permitting an exchange of equal, greater, or lower value;
pin the attacking piece so the capture becomes illegal, unprofitable, or less damaging;
capture a different piece of the opponent;
allow the piece attacked to be captured, a sacrifice, for some other tactical advantage; or for Tempo
employ a zwischenzug (create a counter-threat of equal, greater, or lesser consequence).

Gaining material
When a player is able to capture the opponent's piece(s) without losing any of his own (or losing a piece of lesser
value), the player is said to have "won material"; i.e., the opponent will have fewer (or less valuable) pieces remaining
on the board. The goal of each basic tactic is to win material. At the professional level, often the mere threat of material
loss (i.e., an anticipated tactic) induces the opponent to pursue an alternative line. In amateur games, however, tactics
often come to full fruition – unforeseen by the opponent and resulting in material gain and a corresponding, perhaps
decisive, advantage. Material gain can be achieved by several different types of tactics.

Discovered attack
A discovered attack is a move which allows an attack by another piece. A piece is moved away so as to allow the attack
of a friendly bishop, rook or queen on an enemy piece. If the attacked piece is the king, the situation is referred to as a
discovered check. Discovered attacks are powerful since the moved piece may be able to pose a second threat.

A special case of a discovered check is a double check, where both the piece being unmasked and the piece being
moved attack the enemy king. A double check always forces the opponent to move the king, since it is impossible to
defend attacks from two directions in any other way.

Fork
A fork is a move that uses one piece to attack two or more of the Kasparov vs. World Team, 1999
opponent's pieces simultaneously, with the aim to achieve material a b c d e f g h
advantage, since the opponent can counter only one of the threats.[2]
8 8
Knights are often used for forks, with their unique moving and jumping
7 7
ability. A common situation is a knight played to c2 or c7, threatening
both the enemy rook and king. Such forks checking a king are 6 6

particularly effective, because the opponent is forced by the rules of 5 5

chess to immediately remove the check to his king. The opponent 4 4
cannot choose to defend the other piece, or use a zwischenzug to
3 3
complicate the situation. Pawns can also be effective in forking. By
moving a pawn forward, it can attack two pieces—one diagonally to the 2 2

left, and another diagonally to the right. 1 1

a b c d e f g h
The queen is also an excellent forking piece, since she can move in
Kasparov has played 12.Nc7+, forking
eight different directions. However, a queen fork is only useful if both
Black's king and a8-rook.
pieces are undefended, or if one is undefended and the other is enemy
king. The queen is the most valuable attacking piece, so it is usually not
profitable for her to capture a defended piece.

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Fork attacks can be either relative (meaning the attacked pieces comprise pawn[s], knight[s], bishop[s], rook[s], or
queen[s]), or absolute (one of the attacked pieces is the enemy king, in check). The targets of a fork do not have to be
pieces, although this is known as a double attack. One or more of the targets can be a mate threat (for example,
forking a loose knight and setting up a battery of queen and bishop that creates a mate threat as well) or implied threat
(for example, a knight move that forks a loose bishop and also threatens to fork enemy queen and rook).

Pin
A pin is a move that inhibits an opponent piece from moving, because Morphy vs. Consultation Team,
doing so would expose a more valuable (or vulnerable) piece behind it. 1858
Only bishops, rooks, and queens can perform a pin, since they can a b c d e f g h
move more than one square in a straight line. If the pinned piece 8 8
cannot move because doing so would produce check, the pin is called
7 7
absolute. If moving the pinned piece would expose a non-king piece,
the pin is called relative. 6 6

5 5

4 4
Skewer
3 3
A skewer is a move which attacks two pieces in a line, similar to a pin,
except that the enemy piece of greater value is in front of the piece of 2 2

lesser value. After the more valuable piece moves away, the lesser piece 1 1
can be captured. Like pins, only queens, rooks, and bishops can a b c d e f g h
perform the skewer, and skewer attacks can be either absolute (the Position after 14.Rd1. Morphy has a
more valuable piece in front is the king, in check) or relative (the piece relative pin on Black's knight and an
in front is a non-king piece). absolute pin on the d7-rook.

Example of an absolute skewer attack

Pawns
Pawns are the least valuable chess piece, so are often used to capture defended pieces. A single pawn typically forces a
more powerful piece, such as a rook or a knight, to retreat. The ability to fork two enemy pieces by advancing a pawn is
often a threat. Or a simple pawn move can reveal a discovered attack. When pawns are arranged on a diagonal, with
each pawn guarded by the pawn behind it, they form a wall or pawn chain protecting any friendly pieces behind them.
A weak pawn structure, with unprotected or isolated pawns ahead of more valuable pieces, can be a decisive weakness.
A pawn that has advanced all the way to the opposite side of the board is promoted to any other piece except a king.

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Sacrifices
A sacrifice of some material is often necessary to throw the opponent's
Colle vs. O'Hanlon, 1930
position out of balance, potentially gaining positional advantage. The
a b c d e f g h
sacrificed material is sometimes later offset with a consequent material
8 8
gain. Pawn sacrifices in the opening are known as gambits; they are
usually not intended for material gain, but rather to achieve a more 7 7

active position. 6 6

5 5
Direct attacks against the enemy king are often started by sacrifices. A
common example is sacrificing a bishop on h2 or h7, checking the king, 4 4
who usually must take the bishop. This allows the queen and knight to 3 3
develop a fulminant attack.
2 2

1 1
Zugzwang a b c d e f g h

Zugzwang (German for the "compulsion to move") occurs when a Colle played 12.Bxh7+, an example of
player is forced to make an undesirable move. The player is put at a the so-called Greek gift sacrifice.

disadvantage because he would prefer to pass and make no move, but a

move has to be made, all of which weaken his position. Situations
involving zugzwang occur uncommonly, but when they do occur, it is almost always in the endgame, where there are
fewer choices of available moves.

Zwischenzug
Zwischenzug (German for "intermediate move") is a common tactic in which a player under threat, instead of directly
countering, introduces an even more devastating threat. The tactic often involves a new attack against the opponent's
queen or king. The opponent then may be forced to address the new threat, abandoning the earlier attack.

The concept of a zwischenzug is often listed as a tactic, but might properly be called a counter-tactic instead. The effect
of a zwischenzug is to change the status quo before a tactic can come to fruition. The near ubiquity of the zwischenzug
makes long combinations all the more rare and impressive.

See also
Anti-computer chess
Chess strategy
Cross-check
Decoy
Deflection
Desperado
Interference
Outline of chess: Chess tactics
Overloading
Pawn storm
Pawn structure
Tempo
Triangulation
Undermining
Windmill
Shogi tactics

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References
1. Edward R. Brace, Illustrated Dictionary of Chess (Fodor's Travel Publications, 1978) ISBN 978-0-679-50814-4
2. "Chess Strategy Online: Forks" (http://www.chessstrategyonline.com/content/tutorials/introduction-to-chess-tactics
-forks)

Further reading
Yasser Seirawan (2005), Winning Chess Tactics, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-385-3

External links
Chess Tactics – Definitions and Examples (http://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-tactics--definitions-and-exam
ples)
Predator at the Chessboard - A Field Guide to Chess Tactics (http://www.chesstactics.org) learn chess tactics
Tactics technical paper suite (http://www.chessworld.net/chessclubs/learn_tacticsmenu.asp)
Learn Chess Tactics With This Mini Course And Quiz (http://roadto1400chess.com/step-2-learn-and-practice-tacti
cs/)
Open-source chess tactics (https://lichess.org/training)
Blitz chess tactics (https://blitztactics.com)
Chessity (http://www.chessity.com/) gaming your training
ChessGYM (http://www.chessgym.net/index.php) tactical chess problems
Chess Tactics Server (http://chess.emrald.net/index.php) tactical chess problems
Chess Tempo (http://chesstempo.com/chess-tactics.html) tactical chess problems
Chess Tactics Repository (https://web.archive.org/web/20080422092639/http://chesstr.com/) tactical chess
problems
Adaptive Tactics Server (https://web.archive.org/web/20090421064140/http://www.snufflenose.com/) tactical
chess problems
Practice your tactics by playing (http://www.chessquadsonline.com/) get together with other players
IdeaChess (http://www.ideachess.com/) tactical chess problems
Chess Tactics Videos (http://www.chess-game-strategies.com/chess-tactics.html) includes video clips of 15
different chess tactics
Chess puzzles for Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kz.brusnika)

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