ZHEY CHESS KETDS-Book oy °° W McKay Chess \.ibhrary for KidsYy | David MacEnulty x ' Random House Puzzles & Games _Jor Elizabeth and Edward The Chess Kid's Book of Tactics Copyright © 2003 by David MacEnulty All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without the written permission of the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Random House Puzzles & Games, Random House, Inc., New York, NY. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited. Random House is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc. Visit the Random House Puzzles & Games Web site at www.puzzlesatrandom.com Typeset and printed in the United States of Ametica. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available. 0987654321 July 2003 ISBN: 0-8129-3509-8 New York Toronto London Sydney Auckland’:Acknowledgments This book would not have been written were it not for the two Bruces. My mentor, Life Master Bruce Alberston, whose innovations in chess teaching have been an inspiration to me at every step along the way, and National Master Bruce Pandolfini, who has been both friend and guide as | traveled the always exciting world of chess. 1am very grateful to the following teachers for their valuable assis- tance in reviewing an early version of this manuscript: Stephen Herx, Alex Beltre, Fritz Gaspard, Mitchell Fitzko, and Elizabeth Vicary all made important suggestions that have been incorporated into this book. I am also indebted to Grandmaster Miron Sher and National Mas- ter Bruce Pandolfini for lending their wisdom to this project. Most importantly, | thank my students at C.E.S. 70; they were the in- spiration for this book, and I have used many positions from their tour- nament games in this work. Several of the games in this book have appeared previously in Irving Chernev's 1000 Best Short Games of Chess, and Bruce Pandoifini’s Traps and Zaps. iii10 11 Contents Introduction for Parents vii Introduction for Kids x Chess Basics 1 Tactics Overview 8 En Prise 14 | Take a More Important Piece 22 More (or Better) Attackers than Defenders 28 Forks 35 Pins 56 Skewers 76 Discovery and Discovered Check 83 Double Check 91 Overload or Overworked Piece 9615 16 17 Remove the Guard 105 Deflection 112 Decoy 120 Trapping 127 Make the Right Capture 134 Mixed Tactics 147 Part One 149 Part Two 155 Solutions to Mixed Problems 164 About the Author 166Introduction For Parents This book is based on two big ideas: 1. The chess player who knows tactics beats one who doesn't; 2. Tactics are based on basic patterns that can be learned through organized puzzles. Many of the tactical puzzles in this book were used to train young players on our chess team at Community Elementary School 70 in the Bronx. These remarkable children went on to become New York City, New York State, and National Champions. Our team dedicated a lot of time to understanding the basic patterns of chess tactics. We also worked on openings, endings, and checkmate patterns, although these are not covered in this book. While each of those areas is very important, and I look forward to sharing our tech- niques in future books, | believe that learning tactics is the place to start. This book focuses on the tactical patterns that can occur in any game of chess. The intent is to give the beginner who just knows how the pieces move a thoroughly practical and enjoyable way to get better quickly. There is a famous quote that chess is 99% tactics. Understanding many of the common checkmate patterns depends on certain tactical viiviii Introduction For Parents ideas, and many opening ideas are based on tactical considerations. One of the few times my team was beaten in a match was when I had been focusing on openings and neglecting tactics. We had great posi- tions out of the opening, but our opponents beat us with superior mid- dle game tactics. We immediately shifted our training back to tactics, and three weeks later we won the National Championship in two dif- ferent sections (K-5 Championship and K-6 JV). When | first started teaching, I was frustrated by the search for ma- terial on tactics. Most of what was available was either too difficult for beginners, or was not thematic in approach. | couldn't find a book that broke the patterns down in the way my beginning students needed. | started borrowing a little here, a little there, and finally realized I would have to create my own book. The more | learned about teaching, the more | learned what my students needed, and the better I was able to construct puzzles to help them learn better. I realized that what I had been doing was making puzzles for chess that are similar to the exer- cises musicians have been using for centuries. My first training was as a musician. I spent thousands of hours prac- ticing scales, intervals, and many other exercises to master my craft. These technical exercises are based on the idea that musicians’ fingers and ears must have an automatic response to the thousands of musical patterns they perform. Since repetition is the mother of retention, mu- sicians practice these patterns over and over and over. This book, then, is a chess version of music technique books. First, the student is given a very basic idea, or pattern, and then they have a chance to practice it with many examples. Just as a musician learns to play one note, then another, then a third, and then joins them together for a simple tune, chess players must learn one pattern, then another, and then join them together for a connected series of moves. Musicians need ear training; chess players need eye training. We need to be able to see patterns on the chessboard just as a musician hears patterns of sound. This can only be done by repetition. We must see the pattern many times in many variations before it becomes an au- tomatic part of our repertoire. Indeed, pattern recognition is the key toIntroduction For Parents success in every field. From woodworking, house painting, and writing to horseback riding, business, and medicine, people perform best by un- derstanding patterns. I strongly suggest that, just as a musician practices an exercise many times, the student go through this book many times. The more times he or she sees a pattern, the more that pattern becomes intuitive. At this early stage in a chess player’s development, verifying the an- swer is critical. For this reason, 1 have provided answers at the bottom of the page. The student can quickly check the answer without having to go to the end of the chapter or the end of the book to find the correct move. The print on these answers is intentionally small, so the student can easily cover the answers while trying to solve the problems. Check your answers! After verifying the answer, look at the pattern again to lock the picture in your brain. At the end of each chapter, there are a few games featuring the tactic presented in that chapter. In each game, one player makes a significant error. Errors in chess frequently invite a tactical shot. A large part of winning at chess is taking advantage of the mistakes of your opponent. Some of the errors in these games are clearly the moves of total begin- ners, whereas others are a bit more subtle. The final section of puzzles, Mixed Tactics Part Two, starting on page 155, are a significant step up in difficulty from the earlier ones. In the earlier puzzles, the tactic is simply there, waiting for you to find it. In the final section, the student must find the move that sets up the tacti- cal trick. These will require a lot of thought and a lot of patience—two qualities chess players are known for. If the final puzzles seem too difficult at first, students should put the position on a board and try to figure it out with all the relevant pieces in front of them. Ideally, they should try to solve the problems without moving the pieces. The trick is to do them in their heads, as if they were playing a real game with a live opponent. This takes a lot of practice, but the rewards are well worth the effort.Introduction For Kids Tactics are the tricks and techniques chess players use to get a quick ad- vantage in the game. Tactics win games. It’s that simple. This book is loaded with these tricks and techniques. The more you know, the better you play. The better you play, the more you win. A big part of knowing tactics is practicing them, so this book will give you plenty of practice. First we show you a simple idea. Then we give you puzzles to solve to help you lock in the idea. That way, when you see this situation in your own games, you can use your experience to get a winning position. The answers are at the bottom of the page to make it easy to check your solutions. Try to solve the problems without looking at the an- swers. Once you have done all the puzzles on a page, look to see if you got them all right. If you missed any, go back and study the position to see why you might have missed the correct move. Then go on to the next page. If you find you are missing more than one on a page, go back and do the chapter again.Chess Basics Naming the Squares To understand this book, you must understand algebraic notation. For- tunately, it is easy to learn. The first thing to do is to know how we name squares. The chessboard is a square arrangement of sixty-four smaller squares, laid out in eight rows of eight squares each. The rows going sideways are called RANKS. Ranks are numbered 1 through 8. The rows going up and down the board are called FILES. Files are named after the first eight letters of the alphabet, a through h.a 1 wo aaa, ean a ames a -- -- RANK 4 Be erat aa a aoe FILE d PN WwW KR UW As an example of how we name squares, the five-point star in this dia- gram is on the d-file and also on the 4th rank. So the star is on the square we call d4. The ‘d’ is a lower case letter, and the letter comes before the number. We would not write this as D4, nor would we write it 4d. In chess, we always name the file first, and it is always a lower case letter. What square is the four-point star on? answer: 92. 2 Naming the Pieces There are six different pieces in the chess army. Below are the names of the pieces, the symbol used in notation, and a picture of what it looks like on our diagrams. Name ‘Symbol _ Picture 8 King K @ ; ‘ Queen Q wy 5 Rook R z 4 Bishop 8B & ; Knight = -'N aD 1 RAR Pawn Pp tChess Basics Note that we use only upper case letters as symbols for the pieces. That way there is no confusion between the upper case B for Bishop and the lower case b for the b-file. You may have noticed that even though the word Knight is spelled with a ‘K’ as the first letter, we use the letter N as the symbol. That’s be- cause we need the letter K for the King. Other symbols used in chess: + at the end of a move indicates that this move puts the opposing King in check. +4 at the end of a move indicates a double check (see page 66). # at the end of a move indicates that this move gives checkmate. 0-0 is used to indicate castling on the Kingside, where there are two squares between the King and Rook. 0-0-0 is used to indicate castling on the Queenside, where there are three squares between the King and Rook. 1-0 means White wins. 0-1 means Black wins. 172-12 means the game is a draw. ! indicates a strong move. ? indicates a weak move or a mistake. dis dis means discovery Reading and Writing Chess Notation Reading and writing chess notation is simple once you know the names of the pieces and the names of the squares. There are various forms of notation, but the most popular form, and the easiest to understand, is algebraic notation. In this book we will use the following style. First, we begin with a number. The number simply tells us which move we are on. So, if there is a 1. in front, it’s the first move. If there is a 5. in front, it is the fifth move. Next comes the symbol for the piece that is moving: K for King, Q for Queen, B for Bishop, N for Knight, or R for Rook. We do not give the symbol for the moving unit if it is a Pawn. Finally, we name the square the piece is moving to.je. 7 4 Sexy) The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics rn WwW RUN AN @ In this diagram, White has moved a Pawn from e2 to e4, and Black has moved a Pawn from e7 to €5. Since this is the first move for each side, we write this as: 1. e4 e5 The White move is on the left, Black is on the right. Since these are Pawns, we do not use the symbol for the moving unit. PNW RW DA © a becdefgh In move two, both sides brought out a Knight. Now the moves are written like this: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 Note that we use the piece symbol “ for Knight). White’s next move will be 3. d4 Diagram after move 3 on the next page.Chess Basics iS 5 Is this what you thought it would look like? PN WR UW DAN © FN YW RUD N O&O For Black’s third move, he takes the pawn on d4. We write this as 3. ... exd4 The 3. means it is the third move of this sequence. The three dots sig- nify that it is Black's move. The ‘x’ means that a capture has taken place. Next, White will recapture the Pawn with the Knight on f3. We write this as 4, Nxd4. In this book, the moves are often written in paragraph form. TheTI The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics moves we have shown so far would look like this: 1.4, e5; 2. Nf3, Nc6; 3. d4, exd4; 4. Nxd4 if two similar pieces can both get to the same square, you must note which one is moving. For example say you have a Knight on c3 and an- other Knight on d2. If the Knight on c3 moves to e4, you would write this as 1. N(c)e4. That way we know it is the Knight on c3, and not the Knight on d2 that is moving to e4. This should be enough for you to be able to read all the notation used in this book. Exchange Guide in chess, we take pieces from our opponent and our opponent takes pieces from us. In order to make a good exchange, we need to know what the different units are worth. These point values indicate the rela- tive strength of the different units in the chess army. The Queen, the most powerful piece, has the most points. The Pawn, being the most limited, has the lowest point value. All other things being equal, the following table will help you deter- mine whether or not you are getting an equal exchange when you trade pieces or pawns. The exception below notwithstanding, it’s usually bet- ter to have more points than your opponent does. Point Values Q_ Queen = 9 Points R Rook = 5 Points B Bishop =3 Points N Knight = 3 Points P Pawn = 1 Point K King = The Game (The king cannot be taken) Naturally, the position on the board is the true indication of the ab- solute value of a given piece at a given time. If your opponent has a Queen, a Rook, two Bishops and five Pawns, and you only have a RookChess Basics [f )| and a Bishop, you are probably in big trouble. If it is your move, how- ever, and you have checkmate on the move, your five-point Rook and three-point Bishop are worth more at that moment than your oppo- nent’s nine-point Queen, five-point Rook, two three-point Bishops, and five one-point Pawns. At that moment, your eight points are worth more than his or her twenty-five points. Checkmate wins the game. The point values are only to help you decide whether or not to make a trade.Tactics Overview Tactics are the tricks and techniques chess players use to get a quick advantage over their opponents. We will begin with the most basic ideas, and gradually grow from there. Tactics can be found when: 1. There are loose pieces (pieces that are unprotected); 2. Pieces are poorly guarded; 3. Pieces are lined up on ranks, files, or diagonals in ways that expose them to attack; 4, The King is exposed or is in some way vulnerable. When you see any of those situations on the board, look for tactics! If none of those conditions exist, there probably aren't any tactical shots. 8Tactics Overview 9 The tactics we are going to examine in this book are: En Prise (pronounced “ahn preez”) If you can take a piece for free, we say the piece is en prise. If a piece is en prise, it is under attack and not protected. Take a More Important Piece If you can trade pieces, but the one you will take is worth more than the one you will lose, you get a material advantage. For example, let's say you can take a Rook with your Bishop, but you will lose the Bishop. You are taking a more important piece than you are losing, thereby getting an advantage in material. More (or Better) Attackers than Defenders The idea here is to attack something more times than it is defended. If you attack something three times and it is only guarded twice, you can get it. A similar idea is when something is defended by more important pieces than those attacking. An interesting point to make here is that often a less important a piece is a better defender than a more impor- tant one. For example, if a Bishop is attacked by a Knight and Rook, but defended by the King and Queen, the Bishop is in trouble. Al- though the defenders equal the attackers in number, neither defender can risk being taken. Either the Knight or the Rook could take the Bishop with impunity. Fork A Fork in chess occurs when one unit attacks two or more enemy units. A fork is sometimes referred to as a double attack, although the term double attack can also have a much broader meaning. All the pieces can fork, but the Queen and Knight, attacking in eight different directions, are the best pieces to fork enemy units.10 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Pin A Pin occurs when a long range piece—Queen, Rook, or Bishop—at- tacks an enemy unit, and if the enemy unit were to move, there would be an attack on a more important piece behind it. A pin against the King is called an Absolute Pin, because the pinned piece is forbidden to move. If it were to try, the King would be in check. Since you can never make a move that puts your King in check, it is against the rules to move a piece that is pinned to the King. All other pins are Relative Pins. It may not be a good idea to move the piece held by a relative pin, but it isn’t against the rules. Skewer A Skewer is like a Pin, except that instead of attacking a weaker piece in front of a more important one, the more important piece is in front. When the more important piece moves away to escape the attack, the piece behind it can be taken. If the pieces under attack are of equal value, say two Knights, that is also a skewer. Discovery A Discovery is like the Pin and Skewer, except that instead of an enemy unit between your long-range attacker and the enemy target, your own piece is blocking the attack. In a discovery, you move your blocking piece out of the way, revealing an attack from the long-range piece behind it. Naturally, you would like to do as much damage as possible with the moving piece. If you can attack something else with the moving piece, then you have two attacks at once. Frequently, your opponent will have to give up something. Double Check A Double Check is a very forcing kind of discovery. One piece moves away, revealing a check on the enemy King. However, the moving piece also gives check. When the King is in check from two directions, it mustaz Tactics Overview 11 move to escape. Capturing or blocking one check still leaves the other in force. In some situations the King can move out of one check by taking the other unit that is attacking, but even in this case, the King must move. A double check freezes the entire army while the King makes a move to escape from both attackers. Removing the Guard, Overload, and Deflecting These are all ways of diverting a piece from its task. Each of these has a slightly different meaning, but they all have to do with making an enemy piece leave a protective post, or possibly taking advantage of the fact that it cannot leave a protective post. If you can make the protect- ing piece leave, whether by taking it (removing the guard), forcing it to take one of your pieces (overload), or chasing it away (deflecting), you can then get the piece it was guarding. Removing the Guard Removing the Guard simply has to do with taking a piece that is guard- ing something else that you can also take. If you first knock off the guard, then there is nothing protecting the treasure. Take the guard, then take the treasure. Overload Overload is also called an Overworked Piece, which means one piece that is doing the work of two. Overload and Removing the Guard are also forms of Undermining. Deflecting In a Deflection you chase a piece away from an important defensive post. You can do this by either attacking it to make it move away, or by forcing it to take one of your pieces. In accepting your sacrifice, a piece will have been deflected away from its original position, and you can then take advantage of its absence. Some writers call this idea Distrac- tion or Driving Away.12 |) The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics (eco /) Decoy Sometimes you want an enemy piece to move to a new square so you can do something to it in its new location. The technique we use for this is called the decoy. Other terms for the same idea are Driving On, At- traction and Luring. Some authorities use the term decoy only as an endgame term, where one side has an outside passed Pawn that is sacri- ficed to lure the opposing King away from the main body of Pawns on the other side of the board. However, Maxim Bloch and Yasser Seirawan, in their excellent book on tactics (7he Art of Combination, 1997), use the term as it is used here. Trapping If a piece has no safe moves, it is trapped. Attack it and take it. Make the Right Capture Making the best capture when you have a choice of taking two (or more) different pieces can mean the difference between winning and losing the game. There are many times when a young chess player threatens an enemy piece, and the opponent makes a move that allows the piece to be taken. Your opponent’s moves make a big difference in the position on the board. Sometimes the opponent simply made a mistake, and you can now get the piece you attacked first for free. But sometimes it's not a mistake. Sometimes it’s a trap, and if you go for the first piece, when the trap springs shut, you will come out behind. When you have choices to make about capturing, make sure you choose the right one. If you choose the wrong one, you can come out way behind. Forewarned is forearmed. In the words of a great teacher, National Master Doug Bellizzi, “Consider every capture.” Many young players play too fast to do that. This is not a tactic you will find in most books: The special chapter on capturing in this book is included to show some typical mistakes a young player can make, and to show why these mistakes were made.Tactics Overview || Attack In chess, attack means that one piece is in position to capture an enemy piece on the next move. In the diagram below, for example, the White Bishop on f1 could move to c4 to attack the Black Rook. This is a bit different from the normal use of the word. In common usage, if we say one person attacked another we mean that there was actual contact between the two. In chess, attack means to ¢hreaten contact. zee naan “ll “We yy RN WO HR UW DA NI Capture A Capture is when the threatened attack is carried out. So if the Rook doesn’t move, White will take the Rook. A Note on Terminology The terms we use in this book are fairly standard, but tnere are occa- sional disagreements about the precise meanings. For example, if one piece is protecting another, and you drive it away, you have performed a tactic we call deflecting. Someone else may well argue that the guard has been chased away, and call this removing the guard. What is im- portant here is that, regardless of what they call it, both players would certainly agree on what move to make in the position. They may each use a different term, but they clearly agree on the move.WH TZ. En Prise (Take a piece or pawn for free.) what’s the big idea? 14 If you are attacking a piece or pawn that your opponent has Jeft unguarded, you can simply take it. It’s free. There are no tricks or traps in the position. If there were tricks or traps, and you would pay a price for the capture, then it is not en prise.En Prise 15 In the diagram below, White has an easy capture. The unguarded Black Bishop on f7 is under attack from the White Rook on £3. With White to move, the Rook can simply swoop down and capture the Bishop. 7he Bishop is en prise. eae Mh, aa ae a “2 @ oe “ee ae a ee abcde fgh White to Move PNW KR WD] N Chess players need to look at the whole board. We need to know where every piece is and what each can do before we make a decision about what to move. 1. Find the piece that is attacking an unguarded piece. 9. Take the unguarded piece.eae 16 wl The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics C7 En Prise Puzzles a bedefig on 1. White to Move WW, ame As . Ee a i 3. Black to Move 4. Black to Move answers: 4. 1. KxO4. The Knight is guarded by the Pawn, 2. 1. ... KxeS. The Rook is guarded by the Knight. 3. 1.... ox05. Notice that 1... Rxd4 is not free: the Knight takes beck on d4; that’s a simple trade that elso loses the Pawn after 2. Nxd4+ and 3. Nxb6. 4.1... CXOB +.a ws, os sa ia 1 a ee is f “@ ane ey oa abcde fgh 5. White to Move mee We “a. ata” ry ay a He ok “a = “ae “@ a ee a a bcdefgih 7. White to Move answers: 5. 4.cxd5. 6. 1... Beh. 7. 1.NveT 8. 1... Regd. 8. Black to Move18 |G] The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics En Prise Puzzles Aah ag “oo fata ‘ZY Y, Y OG YO ca) PNW RUD > © 8 7 of 5 4 3 2 1 a bedefgh q. White to Move 8 | 8 7 7 6 6 | 5 5 4 4 | 3 3 2 2 1 s 1 abcde fg h abedefgh n. White to Move 12. Black to Move answers: 9. 1. Kxf3. The Bishoo ‘and Pawn p protect each other. Taking ether with the ‘ing is ites. 10. 1. ... Bxf3. 11. 1. Qx67. 12. 1... Rxc3.“man Ti ZFS a bedefgh a bedefgh 13. Black to Move 14. Black to Move fa “a ate mPa GY Ue a bede f og g oh 15. White to Move 16. White to Move answers: 13. 1... Qxb2. 14. 1... gxhd. 15, 1, Bxo8. 16. 1. NxdB.20 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics games featuring En Prise Game 1 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Ng5? QxNg5 Oops. Down a Knight with nothing to show for it. This situation has occurred countless times in the games of students. White's third move, in addition to giving a piece away, is also a viola- tion of an important opening principle: unless you have a very good rea- son, don’t move the same piece twice in the opening. Why move a piece twice when you could use that second move to get out another piece? Then you would have two in the field instead of just one. Another thing wrong with White's third move is that it sends a sin- gle piece charging into enemy territory with no support. What was the Knight going to do, take on the whole Black army alone? You will hear that it is not good to bring out the Queen early, but if your opponent wants to give you a Knight, bringing out the Queen to take it is clearly a good idea. There are a lot of exceptions to the gen- eral principles. Game 2 Center Game 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6é 4. Nc3?? NxQd4 Oh! Again, from a student game, this is another case of chess blindness. White didn’t notice that his Queen was under attack! He simply left the Queen en prise. .En Prise ‘ Game 3 Two Knights Defense 1. e4 @5 2. NFB Nc6 3. Bc4 Nfé 4, d3 d5 This is a little risky. White is ready to castle, and Black is not. Opening the center usually favors the side with the safer King. 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. 0-0 Bc5 7. Ret Black notices the e5-Pawn is hit twice and only guarded once. She doesn't want to play 7. ... f3, exposing her King to a possible diagonal attack later, so she backs up the Bishop. 7. Bd6é But that blocks the queen's protection of the d5-Knight. She left it en prise. 8. BxNd5STake a More Important Piece (Get more points than you lose) what’s the big idea? If you trade pieces, but the one you take is more important than the one you will lose, you will get a maternal advantage. 22Take a More Important Piece Let's say you are attacking a Rook with your Knight, but if you take the Rook, your opponent can take your Knight. Should you take the Rook? Certainly! The Knight is worth three points, and the Rook is worth five. You will come out two points ahead. This is your material advantage. In the diagram below, what piece can Black capture that is more im- portant than the piece he will lose? a ry “What toDo> wt if 1. Find a piece that is yy Y, “@ under attack. yy “@ 2. Determine the relativ my en values of the wieces. — : — “7 R 3. if the piece under attack gS : a fe oe, is worth more than the “s : attacking piece, you can make the capture and gain a material aclvantage. It’s not the pawn on a3. The Bishop is worth more than the Pawn. It’s not the Knight on d4, because Knights and Bishops are about the same value (3 points). Take the Queen (9 points)! Even though you lose the Rook (5 points), you get a more important piece than the one you lose. You just gained a material advantage.« a) x ia ae e \ 4 _s 4 0 3 ae ee |e i 1 ‘eee 1. Black to Move 2. Black to Move tee uae au i a ee “Se 8 ge Oy, oa _ ee ae Be a a a0 e . o Ae oan aa ee onatata Oe aa 12 2 6 3. Black to Move ' 4. Black to o Hove ° 4. 1..., Qo1+ forks the King and Rook. 2. 1... Qa1+ forks the King and Rook. 3. 1... QA2+ forks the King and Rook. . 4. 1, ... QeQ+ forks the King and Rook. Naturally you would not want play 1. ... Qh5+, since that loses the Queen to 2. Rxh5.39 eet Forks iS BeSy Queen Fork Puzzles wen ‘eae fa an “— a a a w a ooatata vi mainte a “ e a 2 “a Oy Yi), “a lil 1 ene ea. ‘aa V (ete u 5 a Y + —— 5. Black to Move. Two Solutions. 6. Black to Move. Five Solutions. oe ae “— 2 oe mae ‘. = i aati peers Ui, Y, -. “» Py 2, ow oe Ye a oe 7_7. “2 Z a becdefgh ee 7. Black to Move. Five Solutions. 8. Black to Move. Five Solutions. answers: ween 5. 4....Qo1+ and 1. ... Qg4+. 61... Qc7+ 1... QQ7+ 1... Qe5+ 1.... Qe3+ and 1. ... Ce1+. (1... Qad+ is a Skewer. See page 76.) 7. 1... QoO+ 1.... Q06+ 1.... Qd4+ 1. ... Qf4+ and 1.... Qh4+. (1. ... QB is a Pin. See page 56.) B. 1... Act 1..., QG2+ 1... Qe4t 1... Qe6+ and 1. ... Qe8+. (1. ... Qaé is a Pin. See page 56.)Knight Forks 2 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics On this page we show the six fundamental positions for a Knight fork when a Knight attacks two enemy pieces. These are the basic patterns for the Knight fork. You want to learn these well, so you can spot them in your games, even when there are a lot of other pieces on the board. AO ag Ag “a ee a i at a y “ oe a a becdefgh —— _=, =, nana Z Yi ae owe eC a a go .. a aa a G es a bcecdefgh tae a ae a a 6 “ual “a. ol a bcdefgh PNW KR UDA N wKnight Forks ie Forks { A The six positions given on the previous page have many variations. For example, the very first pattern can be shown in four different ways. They are just mirror images of the first basic pattern. Put ates ‘ae Ca a as i “a a8 a 7 By “6 2 2 i ee “a a Oa ee ee “So a abcdefgh a as . 6 8 “a @ 0m am aa a 260 @ “a a's abcecdefgh PNW HUD ky ‘ey ao A aa a a a 0 "W; 7 © a 20.7 as L, es — ae abcde fgh Me PNY WwW RU DAY ® Good chess players recognize these patterns instantly, because they have seen them and practiced them hundreds and thousands of times. See if you can spot the patterns of the Knight fork on the next pages. If you have difficulty, go back and review the six basic patterns.42 i ; IG) The Chess Kid's Book of Tactics C/A Knight Fork Puzzles 2 a aa a2 ae “2 ee PNW KRU AN @ a bcecdefgh q. White to Move ‘Ce "fA a poeta ‘ee ee ieee [a_i 28 6 2 a bedefgh 1. White to Move answers: 9. 1.Nd5+ forks the King and ‘Queen. 10. 1. Nf6+ forks the King and Queen. 14. 1.Nd5+ forks the King and Queen 12. 1.Ne5+ forks the King and Queen a a te ae Bee Wa Seana ‘Cee a bedefgh to. White to Move a bedefgh T2. White to MoveKnight Fork Puzzles aoe a “oa @ stg ota fe 2s er i te ee “6 628 8 _ ee a becdefgh 13. Black to Move ae an ee aoa ae a wen “ea “eos a becdefgh 15. Black to Move answers: 13. 1. ... Ng3+ forks the King and Queen. 14. 1. ... No6+ forks the King and Queen. 15. 1.... Ne6+ forks the King and Queen. 16. 1.... Ne5+ forks the King and Queen. PN WO RUD] N © I a becdefgih PNW KR WDA NI © a bcecdefgh 16. Black to Move44 = The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Rook, Bishop, King, and Pawn Forks Rooks like to see enemy pieces lined up on the same Rank or File. Bish- ops can fork two enemy units that are lined up on the same diagonal. Ranks and files are the lines of attack for the rook. Diagonals are the lines of attack for the bishop. Lines of attack for the King and Pawn are much more limited. Za ae ae ee emen a aan a a wt oem 6 - bec def gh Rook Fork Bishop Fork Kings want to see two unguarded pieces fairly close together. Pawns look for two pieces on the same Rank one File apart. PN wR WD N w BEND w HUAN & Z ae ea mo 7a satan - | BEN wR UW AN © oP Vs “~e -—s 4 ‘s” — “o"a'« —- ss abcecdefgh King Forks Pawn Fork On the next pages, we have mixed’ forks. They are randomly arranged, so any piece might be the one doing the fork. As the puzzles continue, we add more and more pieces, so you will become accus- tomed to spotting the patterns in a crowded field.Fork Puzzles Wi, fo, la DO Page N a ByMaey ae een tas es ae “a me A “4 PNW KR UD N 8 “s ty | a ” Le Lo ates s a ats le we ae 4288 n vite a rove S 6 sack to Hoe i a _= E77 Ve a s x a ea a ace 6 em 2 ais a a 5 noon .s Cs Po a 4 amt Patty Mena t oh eam Beg aS ‘a slack rove - 1. site Hove ee 17, 1 d+ fori the ki King and Knight. 18. 1. ...Bc3+ forks the King and Rook. 19. 1... Qe5+ forks the King, Bishop, and Knight. 20. 1. Nxc7+ forks the King, Queen, and Rook (a Famity Fork).46 |@9! The Chess Kid's Book of Tactics Fork Puzzles N Le, a \ € eg} N WY} \ N \\ WS \ WS dM, ba “ me WS WI \\S a \ N w Ww w’ won 414+ 4% ,, Z (ae Aes Va : wa 0. 2 y Ye, ZANE S a bcdefgh a becdefgh 23. Black to Move 24. Black to Move answers: 21. 1. Kd4 forks the Bishop and Knight. 22. 1. ... Qh4 + forks the King and Bishop. 23. 1. ... C5 forks the Knight and Rook. 24. 1. ... dS forks the Bishop and Knight.8 7 6 i j 5 a ‘a a ‘ oceans @ > 2 ae ys —" ‘abc def gh J 25. Black to Move 26. White to Move Ay, iy Fy, aholt a rN WwW RW DY @ Sa abecdefgh 27. White to Move 28. Black to Move answers: 25. 1. ... Ko4 forks the Knight and Pawn. 26. 1. Kg6 forks the Knight and Rook. 97. 1. Bc3 forks the Rook and Knight. 28. 1. ... Rd2+ forks the King and Knight.aay AS Ie The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics = Fork Puzzles 7 7 WAY ret Aya WSU I ata ate a becdefgh 29. Black to Move Pn vw KRU DN @ PNW KRW DAN Ow 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 | 4 4] 3 3 | 2 2] 1 @ A 1s abcde f gh abede f g bh 31. Black to Move 32. Black to Move a nswers: 29, 1... NC3+ forks th the king, Queen, and Rook 30. 1. ... Nd3+ forks the King, Queen, and Bishop. (The next *puzze is from a different variation of the same opening, ) 31. 1. ... Nd3+ forks the King, Queen, and Bishop. 32. 1. ... Ne4 forks the Rooks.ee be ~ a8 a “2 8 8 sn “» Ga ate iNe a0 0 7 @ eas a bcecdefgh 33. White to Move Hj ce 6 Rt ‘ei marel ee Lp ee “@ “a ata 35. Black to Move answers: 33. 1. Qg8+ forks the King and Rook. 34. 1. ... Rd@ forks the Knight on a2 and the Pawn on f2. 35. 1. ... Bd3 forks the Rook and Knight. FP Nw RUD Nw a bcdefgh 34. Black to Move pana ar fe a be S e f gh 36. White to Move 36. 1. BxdS+ forks the King and Queen. 1. Qxd5+ is also a fork, but it forces a Queen trade, and you would rather trade your Bishop for your opponent's Queen.| 2 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Zr 50 Fork Puzzles eit it aos a mea “ay \ s', ofS _ ei! \ 44K a wr" s ae iene or on fF ON 38. Black to Move 37. White to Move on ont ON 40. Black to Move 39. White to Move answers: 37. 1. 94+ forks the King and Knight. £5 forks the Queen and Knight. 39. 1. Qh5~ forks the King and Bishop. - QCS+ forks the King and Knight. 38. 1... 40. 1..Escape from a Fork This page shows variations on some of the previous puzzles. We have moved the pieces around a little so that the player caught in a fork has an escape. Four ways to escape are: a) move one unit so it protects the other [diagram 41] (solutions on next page) == a ag BD ye a a a" ee a “e “" oa Ee a bcecdefgih 41. Black to Move b) move one to a square that checks the opponent, then when the King evades the check, you can escape with the second unit [42] Pry wW RN DN & ee 42. Black to Move| The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics ¢) move one unit away and block the attack on the other [43] t@ a 22, a, a8 ‘2 a2 ‘y ae ee a bcecdefgh 43. White to Move PNY RW DI Ow d) put a third unit in the skirmish that protects both of the pieces under attack [44]. a a iy Ba "ii “2 a ‘ee PrP e RU A I Ow 44. White to Move answers: 44. 1... ROO. The Rook gets aw away, ands at the sa same time, z, guards the Knight. 42. 1. ... Re1+. The Rook checks the enemy King. The King must escape | from the check, and that gives the Knight time to run away from the attacking Bishop. 43.. 1 Nd. The Knight escapes from the Queen and blocks the check at the same time. 44, 1. Re. The Rook steps up and guards both Pawns. The f2-Pawn is guarded directly, while the a2-Pawn is guarded by X-ray (guarded through the enemy Rook).games featuring Forks Game 8 This is my favorite game for showing the power of the fork. It was played in 1903, between an amateur and a Master named Leonhardt. 1. e4 e@5 2. d4 e5xd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4, Qe3 Nf6é 5. Bc4 Ne5 6. Bo3 Bo4+ Normally we don't like to see this check, because White can simply stick a Pawn in the Bishop's face, and it will lose time having to move again, while White strengthens the center. However, as has often been noted, exceptions abound in chess, and recognizing when they occur is the mark of the master. Black's idea here is to jure the c-Pawn forward so it will no longer guard d3. Every move, no matter how strong, cre- ates a weakness somewhere. Sometimes the weakness is irrelevant, but sometimes—as here—it matters a lot. 7. 03 BcS Black attacks the Queen with an unguarded Bishop. However, the Bishop is safe because if 8. Qxc5, Nd3+ forks the King and Queen. So 8. Qg3 White thinks his Queen is safe here. 8. Bxf2+! Another unguarded attack, and this time it's a fork! The King and Queen are under attack. The Bishop must be taken, but no matter how he does it, White gets hit by a Knight fork. If 9. Kxf2, Nxe4+ wins the Queen If 9. Qxf2, then Nd3 does the job.54 = The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Game 9 Reti Opening 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6é 3. 93 Nf6é 4, BgQ Bo4 5. NdS Nxd5 6. cxd5 Nd4 This is cute but dangerous. Crossing the frontier line with two loose pieces can be hazardous, as White demonstrates. 7. e3 NfS 8. Qg4l Two loose pieces are no match for a Queen, especially on her side of the board. Game 10 Max Lange Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf Nc6 3. d4 e5xd4 4. Bc4 BcS 5. 0-0 Nf6é 6. e5 d5 7. e5xf6 d5xc4 8. Rel+ Beé 9. N35 Qxf6? (Qd5 is better) 10. Nxe6 f7xe6 11. QhS+ White forks the King on e8 and the Bishop on c5, winning a piece.Game 11 French Defense 1. e4 26 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4, Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Bd3 Nxe4 7. Bxe4 Nf6é 8. Bd3 Be7 9. Qe2 0-0 10. Bg5 66 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. Qed! This forks the Rook on a8 and the Pawn on h7, with the added kicker that taking the Pawn on h7 is mate. Game 12 Two Knights Defense Finally, for the fork, we have a game that has been played a gazillion times by scholastic players. 1. e4 e5 2. NFB Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6é 4, Nc3 Nxe4 White thinks Black has lost his chart on piece values. Why is he giv- ing up a Knight for a Pawn? 5. Nxe4 d5! Oh. White will have to give up one of his minor pieces. Looks like he didn’t win a Knight for a Pawn after all. This is called the Center Fork Trick. It doesn’t win material, but it does give Black at least an even game after only five moves.(Hold an enemy piece in place) what’s the big idea? A Pin keeps a piece from moving. A piece that can't move has lost its power. A Pin occurs when a Rook, Bishop, or Queen attacks an enemy piece, and if that piece were to move, there would be an attack on another piece behind it. 56Pin i 57 s[ J] Va “WhattoDo 7 Ay e = a 1. Look for enemy 6 Oe a is oe pieces lined up on the 5 oo Va Oe a all a same rank, file, 4 a a an ow, ° Snes . Find one of your 3 a oe a WY) Pieces that can attack 2 Y, i the front piece and, 1 WY W “y, attacking through t abecdefgh like an X-ray, hit the second piece. 3. Attack! Pieces that can Pin Only the Queen, Rook, and Bishop can Pin. These are the three long-range pieces, those that can travel across the whole board in one move. Their ability to attack along an entire rank, file, or diagonal gives these three pieces the power to Pin. : NOTE: The pin, skewer, and discovery are all based on the same idea. The big difference is that in a discovery, the middle piece is on the same side as the attacker. In the diagram above, we can easily see that the Rook on d2 attacks the enemy Knight on d5, and that if the Knight were to move, the Black King on d8 would be under attack. This is called an Absolute Pin, because the pin is against the King. Moving out of an Absolute Pin is illegal, since it puts the King in check. A Relative Pin is a pin against any piece other than the King.ye 58 Ss The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Bree I ae ee Yi Wi a WG a “O a a a .- Le moma eee PNY WwW KR UD Ss & In this diagram, the Bishop on f3 attacks the enemy Knight on d5. If the Knight were to move, the Black Queen on a8 would be under attack. The Knight is PINNED to the Queen. This is called a Relative Pin, because it is not illegal to move the Knight. In this position, moving the Knight is not a good idea, but it doesn’t break the rules. Pins are a very important and complicated part of chess. We are going to look at five ideas in this section: 1. Find the Pin. 2. Piling On the Pinned Piece. Since a pinned piece can't (or shouldn't) move, a good thing to do is to attack it again. We call this “piling on.” 3. A Pinned Piece Does Not Protect. A pinned piece, having lost the power to move, is often not effective in protecting other pieces. 4, Illusory Pins. Sometimes a pinned piece does protect. To make that point, we have included a couple of famous examples when a pinned unit wit move, allowing the loss of the queen. 5. Escape from a pin. Not all pins render the piece powerless. Some- times there is a clever way to escape.Find the Pin Bishop Pins: Find the enemy pieces lined up on a DIAGONAL. TD : Pome il 4 oe } a a an Y =| wl ‘a 8 a bedefgh 1. White to Move a bcdefgh 3. Black to Move answers: 4. 1. Bd4 pins the Rook to the King. 2. 1. 894 pins the Rook to the King. 3. 1. ... Bg6 pins the Knight to the King. 4. 1. ... Bc6 pins the Queen to the King. i @ on oe a oe foe) SF a 7 oe pouedese 20 6 2 Ss ” L500 DG “i ee "Eon 8 abcdefgh 2. White to Move PNW RU OD aay =a a eel ne “6 eee a bedefgh 4. Black to Move60 2 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Find the Pin Rook Pins: Find the enemy pieces lined up on a RANK ot FILE. Aigygl a ee Bho me em ae “C8 6 @ “@ es a bede “ef g bh 5. Black to Move a nab c ae h 7. White to Move answers: 5. 1. ... Rg7 pins the Bishop to the King. 6. 1. ... Ra4 pins the Knight to the King. 7. 1. ROS pins the Pawn to the King. 8. 1. Re4 pins the Queen to the King. a aa 7 ae va boc a e f g — 6. Black to Move nee a eta ae oe “2 2 Pe ene ’ oe “7 abedefgh 8. White to MoveFind the Pin Queen Pins: Find the enemy pieces lined up on a RANK, FILE, or DIAGONAL. re eae oat a A ee a 8 282i a b ec defgh q. White to Move sie 6 et Sa =n a as , IZ 2 a bedefgh nN. Black to Move PNW RY DN OO answers: 9. 1. 3 pins the Pawn to the King. 10. 1... Qc5 pins the Knight to the King. 11. 1.... Qe6 pins the Knight to the King. 12. 1. Qg1 pins the Knight to the Rook. abcd — he 10. Black to Move a becdefgih 72. White to Move62 ez SS The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics = Find the Pin Mixed Agi Se “aa meee ae i "ore Mes | 4 eo a bcdefgh 13. White to Move a 2 Z Y Y Zi Pa BPN WO RUAN @w 15. White to Move answers: ——-. pe a _f8 amon Uy os is 4, is “a a “yy a ee wont a becdeifgh 14. Black to Move ZU 7 _| a bcdefgh 16. Black to Move 13. 1. Bad4 pins the Queen to the King. 14. 1. ... Be4 pins the Knight to the Rook. 15. 1. Re1 pins the Queen to the King. 16. 1. ... Qa2 pins the Bishop to the King.Piling on the Pinned Piece Since a pinned piece either can't or shouldn't move, it is a stationary tar- get. If it is already protected, attack it again! We call this “Piling on the Pinned Piece.” In these puzzles, the pin is already set up. You just have io find the way to pile on. i aie a ee aoe aie va a ee a b cod e f gh 17. Black to Move 6 6 @ aig 6 SF ge faa ae abede f gh 19. Black to Move answers: 47. 1.... 04, piling the pinned Knight. ee PNY KRU DAN @ _ ea am ms @ a wane im ee 3" a s wea ft ei PMP we RU DAN © Y abecdefgh 20. Black to Move 18. 1, Nf4, piling on the pinned Bishop. Nc3 just loses the Knight to the Rook on ¢8. 49. 1. ... 05, piling on the pinned Knight. 20. 1.... Kc5, piling on the pinned Rook.64 [| The Chess Kid's Book of Tactics Nes Piling on the Pinned Piece rN WwW RW DW © a bedefgh 21. White to Move PNW RW DN Ow PN oO RMA YY © 23. White to Move 24. Black to Move ESE cca enter tnenmnnennane 21. 1. Bxb4, piling on the pinned Pawn on c5, while also-pinning the Pawn to the King. If Black takes the Bishop, White wins a Rook and Pawn for the Bishop. 22, 1. 8a7, piling on the pinned Rook, while pinning the Rook to the King. 93. 1. Nd5, piling on the pinned Knight. 24. 1. ... d5, piling on the pinned Rook.Pin a Piece That Is Already Under Attack In these puzzles, a piece or Pawn is attacked once and guarded once. Find a way to pin the unit that is already under attack. Once it is pinned, it can’t move away, and then you may be able to take it on the next move. ‘Lees 7 ae it 5 7] ‘bales of : (a me 5 Me, YW 5 be, Ue a ." | ls “oo y 4 "eh 3 200 Bie 2 Y RF 2 Y Wy ; Fak ; yas a bedefgh abcde fs 25. White to Move 26. Black to Move 8 vy og 2 SLM us ey fa a aie ‘i Pata? WEE 6 a “@ i a 6 a" “a 5 Wa a, Us “f 5 41RZY a ,. 4 7 wee : 2 wy 2 ee“e ae a bedefgh i 27. Black to Move 28. Black to Move "9s, 1. Rc1 pins the Knight on c that is ‘areedy attacked by the Bishop o on 3 26. 1. ... ROB pins the Pawn on dd that is already attacked by the Pawn on e6. 27. 1. .... ROB pins the Knight on b4 that is already attacked by the Queen on h4. 28. 1. ... Bd5 pins the Knight on 3 that is aiready attacked by the Rook on £7.) The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics A Pinned Piece Does Not Protect Ifa piece is pinned, it may have difficulty fulfilling its function as a pro- tector or guardian of another piece. In diagram 29, for example, the Pawn on g2 seems to be guarding the Pawn on h3. Unfortunately for White, Black’s Rook on g8 pins the g2 Pawn. That means nothing is re- ally guarding the Pawn on h3. atu Py “2 Pa oe Y Ys BP PywW RW HD IO. PNW RU DN © a bc defgh 30. White to Move 8 8 7 7 é 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a bede is g h a bec def gh 31. Black to Move 32. White to Move answers: 29. 1. ... Bxh3. The Pawn on g? is pinned by the Rook on 98. 30. 1. Rx05. The Pawn on a6 is pinned to the Rook on a8. 31. 1... Qxh3+. The Pawn ong? is pinned by the Bishop on cé. Play continues with 2. Kg1, Qxg2# 32. 1. Qxf6#. The Knight is pinned by the Rook on a8.A Pinned Piece Does Not Protect a YY Sane Be a becdefgh a bedefgh —— PNW RU DN & 34. White to Move PNW RU DN @ abcdefasgh abedefgh 35. White to Move 36. White to Move answers: 33. 1. ... Qxg5+. The Bishop is pinned, so it can’t take the Queen. Even worse, this is a check, so White can’t even save the Bishop. Black gets two pieces. 34. 1. Rxd5. Black can’t take with the Knight because the Knight is pinned to f8. If the Knight recap- tures, White gets a checkmate. This puzzle shows that a piece can be pinned against an empty square. 35. 1, Bxe4. The Pawn is pinned to a checkmate square again. 36. 1. Nxo4. The c5-Pawn is pinned to the Rook on a7. White wins a Pawn.)] The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics IHusory Pins: When a Pinned Piece Really Does Attack or Protect % Zl ha a Y Yigg ‘y gb Y Pe nw KRW DAN © This famous position is from a game played by a man named Legal and dates from around 1750. The moves are: 1. e4 e5 2. NPB 6 3. Bc4 Bg4 4. Nc3 g6 Everyone can see that the f3-Knight is pinned. Moving it can mear the loss of the Queen. Legal shocked his opponent by playing 5. Nxe5! His opponent. thinking this was a terrible blunder, greedily snatched the Queen with 5. Bxd1 Why did Legal offer up his Queen?oa oO And now came the surprise: ie rat “0 ee os WN Bi me or OoUN YT ON 4 a bedefgh 6. Bxf7+, Ke7 (the only move) 7. NdS# (See next diagram) acai me ole Be Sea te The final position after 7. NdS# i the Knight wasn't very effective. The pin o70 2 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Iilusory Pins: When a Pinned Piece Really Does Attack or Protect. PN WwW KR UD NO This again is a famous position, this time from the Queen’s Gambit Declined. The position occurs after 1. 4 d5 2. c4 26 3. Nc3 Nfé 4. BgS N(o)d7 An inexperienced White player may think he can win a Pawn and louse up Black's center with 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Nxd5 and the Black Knight on f6, being pinned, can't recapture. White gets a rude jolt when Black moves the pinned Knight: 6. ... Nxd5!, exposing his Queen to an attack. 7, Bxd8. See the next diagram.71 BP Nw KRW DN © Because after 7. ... Bo4+, White loses his Queen, too. 8. Qd2 (the only move), Bxd2+; 9. Kxd2, Kxd8, Black is.up a piece. The pin on the f6 Knight was illusory.IG ) The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Escape From A Pin Not every pin is lethal. In these puzzles, you have to find a way to escape from the pin. The ideas are similar to the ways to escape from a Fork (see page 51). Ot le @ a a e “gs e me a aa s abcde fgh IO Ei 38. White to Move PNW RUAN w Eee 3 = te ace a oratatd PN w KRU DN © PN WwW KRW A] Nw > Lid a becdefgh abcde fgh 39. White to Move 40. White to Move answers: 37. 1. ... Qo7+ The check saves the Queens while feeang the white Bishop. Newt move ve Black wil save the | Rook. 38. 1. Rh8+. The Rook escapes with a check. After the King saves himself, the Knight gets away too. 39. 1. Rd4, escaping from the pin and guarding the Knight. Since the Bishop and Knight are the same value, White doesn’t mind a trade. 40, 1. NfQ. The first piece moves out of the way, and finds a squére to guard the Rook.games featuring Pins Game13_.... — 1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e4xd5 Nxd5 4, N@ge2 96 5. Nxd5 Qxd5 6 Nc3 Qc6 7. BoS! White pins and wins the Queen. Game 14 Queen Pawn Game This one shows a future World Champion falling victim to a pin. 1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 BS. 3. Nf Nf6 4, c4 26 5. 2 hé 6. Bxfé Oxf6 7. cd ed 8. Qo3 Nc6 9. Qxo7 Kd7 Clever idea. If 9. Qxa8, Bo4+ drops the Queen to the Rook on hé. White is not fooled. 9. Bod! White pins and wins with two unstoppable threats. One is simply 10. Ne5+ piling on the pinned piece with an attack on the King. The other is 10. Bxc6+. If 10. ...QxB, then 11. Ne5+ forks the King and Queen.74 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics a4 Game 15 Italian Game 1. e4 e@5 2. NFB Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4 4. Nxe5? Tempting but bad. 4, Qg5 Hitting both the Knight and the g2-Pawn. 5. Nxf7 ag? 6. Rf1 White wants to save his Rook before taking Black's Rook. 6. Qxe4+ Oops. No time to grab the Black Rook. Have to save the King. Block- ing with the Queen loses her to the Knight, so, 7. Be NiS# The Bishop is caught in an absolute pin, so it can't save the King. Game 16 Philidor’s Defense This is perhaps the most famous game of all that features a false pin. It was played in Paris back in 1750 between DeLegal and St. Brie. In those days, DeLegal was considered one of the greatest players alive. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf dé 3. Bc4 Bg4 Pins the Knight to the Queen. 4, Nc3 g6 5. Nxed! What's this? Has the great DeLegal lost his mind? His Queen is en prise! St. Brie doesn’t even bother to think about this one. He grabs the Queen.Pin 75 5... Bxd1 6. Bxf7+ Uh oh. Only one move. 6... Ke7 7. Ndd# And now there are no moves. DeLegal didn’t lose his mind, St. Brie ost his King! Not all pins are dangerous. Game 17 Vienna Game “ere's another with the same idea, this time between Pillsbury and zzmandez. This was one of twelve games Pillsbury played at the same =me without sight of the boards! 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. £4 dé 4, Nf3 a6 5. Bc4 Bg4 Pillsbury suddenly has visions of Legal-St. Brie. 6. fxeS Fernandez has visions of piling up on the pinned piece. 6... Nxe5 7. Nxe5! Fernandez is sure he has caught the blindfolded Pillsbury off guard. Teo Bxd1 8. Bxf7+ Does this look familiar? 8... Ke7 9. NdS# Pillsbury's vision was more accurate than his opponent’s, and Pills- tury was the one who couldn't see!Skewer (Like a pin, but the more important unit is in front) what’s the big idea? 76 The front piece usually must get out of the way, and then you take the piece in back. A Skewer occurs when a Rook, Bishop, or Queen attacks an enemy piece, and if that piece were to move, there would be an attack on an equal or less valuable piece behind it. We use the term skewer if the unit in front is more important than the unit in back, or if the two units are equal in value.fee — PNW KR UD] N © ‘ham me 2G, Wr U,,, H/ ea a a bedefgh Diagram A Diagram B 1. Look for enemy pieces lined up on the same rank, file, or diagonal. Q. Find one of your pieces that can attack the front piece and, attacking through it like an X-ray, hit the second piece. w . Attack! (The same as with a pin, except that the more important piece is in front.) In diagram A, we can easily see that the Rook on d2 attacks the enemy King on d5, and that when the King moves, the Rook can take the Bishop. That’s a Skewer. In diagram B, the Bishop skewers the two Knights. It is also called a Skewer if the pieces under attack are equal in value.Find the Skewer eee . 78 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics 7 ed «6 PL: peace, theta: ew oe ll iat al pee 8 os 7 BS: mom soa eo ees nes a . a oe o BSE a ° ad a as 3] = N oe a NN 7° Mata - Eo . @ Ne stata" ° eS A ° 1. White to Move ornont On 4. Black to Move Q+ Pawn promotion to a Queen is an instant Skewer. . 1. White: Rd4+ skewers the Queen. Black: 1. ... Qa4 skewers the Rook. 1 2. 3. 4. 1... Qcl+ skewers the Rook. . 1... Be3 + skewers the Pawn. 48 21 1 3. Black to Move answers:Zz Skewer a 719 Find the Skewer di a x7 8 7D won ae aa en ae ee aa FPWR YU D]D VW @ ab cod e f gh 5. White to Move ws iy ao oo “ee i oats “E “g aor Od ane Wo anata a “e “Eg “2 a bcdefgh 7. Black to Move answers: 5. 1. Rh7+ skewers the Rook. 6. 1. Bc2 skewers the Knights. 7. 1. ... Qd1+ skewers the Rook. 8. 1. ... Re8+ skewers the Rook. o 8 «8 one PNW RUD] N © PNW RW D]A N © 70 ca "ee Bf ‘J “yy “yy 2 o > i a ime ao Be ow a 4, a. .s a a “b c de f 8 h 6. White to Move 8. Black to MovemW) - \y = a oo + ae A ss": ganas 2 a \\ .. oe a =e oe fall e 8 \_ fe pte: to. White to Move Find the Skewer aaa NX 72. White to Move 80 |G) The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics q. Black to Move 1. Black to Move answers: 9. 1... RhS skewers the Bishop. The fork, 1... Rc5 doesn't work because White can play 2. Qb8+. 10. 1. Qh8+ skewers the Rook on 68. Qb7+ skewers the Rook on h1. 12. 1. Ba skewers the Rook on 8. M1. 12...Skewer Find the Skewer ——7 7 ‘ED vse ao 4 [Ae ‘| 4 wag @ 5 YF Y 5 4 4 3 3% 2 2 1 p 1 j ) abcdefgh a bcdefgh 13. White to Move 14. Black to Move 8 8 VW, me 7 7 jt J, i 6 614F GZ (yg 4 4 Va, 3 3 2 2 i | ) 1 a bcdefgh 15. White to Move 16. Black to Move answers: 13. 1. Bhé skewers the Rook on 8. 14. 1. ... BgS skewers the Rook on c1. 15. 1. Qd8+ skewers the Queen on h4. 16. 1, ... BdS skewers the Rook on ht82 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics Z| games featuring Skewers Game 18 1. a4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxeS d4 4, 23 Bo4+ 5. Bd2 dxe3 6. Bxb4 exf2+ 7. ke fxg1 =N+! 8. RxNg1 Bg4+! Black skewers the Queen on di. Game 19 Petroff Defense 1. 7. cup wry e4 Nf3 NxeS Nxc6 e5 d3 dxe4? e5 Nf6é Nc6 dxc6 Ne4 Bc5 Bxf2 White sees that 8. KxBf2 deflects the King away from the Queen, and Black will simply play 8. ... Qxd1. So, 8. KeQ But that allows the skewer, 8. Bg4+ and the Queen leaves the board after all.Discovery and Discovered Check (One piece gets out of the way, revealing an attack from a Queen, Rook, or Bishop behind the moving piece) what’s the big idea? With the moving piece, you can attack some- thing else. That gives you two attacks with one move. The Discovery is in the same family as the pin and the skewer. In all three, a long-range piece (Queen, Rook, or Bishop) would have an attack on an enemy unit except that there is a piece between them blocking the attack. In a pin or skewer, the piece in the middle is in the same army as the target unit. In a Discovery, the mid- dle piece is in the same army as the attacker. 8384 2 The Chess Kid’s Book of Tactics In the diagram below, the Rook would be attacking the King on e8, but there is a friendly Knight in between. When the Knight moves, there is a discovered attack on the King. Since the attack is on the King, this dis- covery is also called a discovered check. a ~ @ PNW RW DAN Be Dw Rw In a discovery, you want to attack something else with the moving piece. Here, for example, the Knight would move to c6. That gives White a check from the Rook with a free attack from the Knight on the Queen. oe ee UY eat tae fae weal a a 2 | eZ 7 Y wek GZ a a a 2 6 - ee “s ae 1. Look forw ways to attack an exposed enemy piece. . Then get one of your long- range pieces behind your blocking piece. This will look just like a pin or skewer, except that your piece will be in the middle. . Find the most damaging move you can make with the blocking piece, and you will have a double attack. Here, White has a Bishop lined up behind the Knight, with the enemy King in his sights. The Knight moves to f6, attacking the Rook, while the Bishop gives a discovered check to the King.