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Chess Tactics: Forks, Pins, Skewers and More, Explained
The chess tactics that decide most games - forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, double checks and deflection - each with a board to step through.
"Chess is 99 percent tactics," wrote the German master Richard Teichmann. It is an exaggeration, but not by much. At every level below master, most games are decided by a tactic: a short, forcing sequence that wins material or gives checkmate.
The good news is that tactics come in a small number of patterns. Learn to recognise them and you will start finding them in your own games - and stop falling for them.
The fork
A fork is one piece attacking two or more enemy pieces at once. The opponent can only save one.
Any piece can fork, but the knight is the master of it: its jumping move is easy to overlook, and it can attack a queen or rook without being attacked back.
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 h6 5. Nxf7
The most dangerous forks come with check: the king must move, and the other piece falls. When you look for a fork, look for squares where a knight would attack the king and something valuable at the same time.
Pawns fork too. A pawn pushed between two pieces, attacking both, wins one of them - cheap and very common.
The pin
A pin attacks a piece that cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it. Only the long-range pieces - bishops, rooks and queens - can pin.
- In an absolute pin, the piece behind is the king. The pinned piece is not allowed to move at all.
- In a relative pin, the piece behind is something else valuable, like the queen. The pinned piece can move, but it costs material.
Moves: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4
The way to exploit a pin is to attack the pinned piece again - often with a pawn. It cannot run away.
The skewer
A skewer is a pin turned around: the more valuable piece is in front. When it moves out of the attack, the piece behind it is captured.
Moves: 1. Ra6+ Kd5 2. Rxh6
Skewers happen most in endgames, where kings are active and lines are open. Before putting your king and another piece on the same line, check whether an enemy rook or bishop can reach it.
The discovered attack
A discovered attack happens when one piece moves out of the way and uncovers an attack by the piece behind it. Now there are two threats: one from the piece that moved, and one from the piece that was uncovered.
If the uncovered piece gives check, it is a discovered check - and the piece that moved can go almost anywhere and do almost anything, because the opponent must deal with the check first.
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Nf6 5. Nc6+
The double check
A double check is a discovered check where the piece that moves also gives check. The king is attacked twice, and since you cannot block or capture two pieces at once, the king must move. That makes double check the most forcing move in chess - it often leads straight to mate.
Moves: 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qd3 e5 6. dxe5 Qa5+ 7. Bd2 Qxe5 8. O-O-O Nxe4 9. Qd8+ Kxd8 10. Bg5+ Kc7 11. Bd8#
Removing the defender, deflection and decoy
These three tactics all do the same thing: they change which pieces are guarding what.
- Removing the defender: capture (or chase away) the piece that protects something, then take what it was protecting.
- Deflection: force a defending piece to leave its post - often with a check or an offer it must accept.
- Decoy: lure an enemy piece, often the king, onto a square where a tactic works - usually with a sacrifice.
A defender that has two jobs at once is overloaded: make it do one, and the other falls. When you see an enemy piece guarding two things, look for a way to make it choose.
The in-between move
An in-between move (also called by its German name, zwischenzug) is an unexpected move played before the obvious one - usually a check or threat that must be answered - after which the expected move is still there, but in a better version. Many "winning" combinations fail because the opponent had one.
How to find tactics in your own games
Tactics work against pieces that are undefended, lined up, or overloaded, and against a king with no escape squares. Before every move, look for:
- Checks - every one, even ones that look silly.
- Captures - every one.
- Threats - what does each move attack?
And do it for your opponent too: what would they play if it were their move? This habit alone will win you more games than any opening.
Practise
Recognising patterns comes from repetition, not reading. Train each tactic on its own:
- Fork puzzles
- Pin and skewer puzzles
- Hanging piece puzzles - for spotting free material
- Mixed tactics - when you are ready for anything
Then learn the finishing blows in famous checkmate patterns.
Practise it: Fork puzzles, Pin and skewer puzzles, Chess tactics puzzles, Hanging piece puzzles