Chess Tactics Explained: Forks, Pins, Skewers and Discovered Attacks
Tactics win most games below master level. Learn the four core tactical ideas with clear examples and a simple routine for spotting them in your own games.
There is a saying in chess that most games are decided by tactics. Grand strategies are lovely, but in practice, the player who wins material through a short, forcing sequence usually wins the game. For beginners and improving players, learning tactics is the single fastest way to get better.
A tactic is a short sequence of moves that exploits a weakness in the opponent's position, usually to win material or deliver checkmate. This article explains the four tactical ideas you will meet most often.
The fork
A fork is a move where one piece attacks two or more enemy pieces at the same time. The opponent can only save one, so you win the other.
Any piece can fork, but knights are especially good at it because their unusual movement is hard to see. A classic example is a knight landing on a square where it attacks both the enemy king and queen. The king must move out of check, and the knight captures the queen.
Pawns can fork too. A pawn moving forward to attack two pieces diagonally at once is a common way to win material in the opening.
How to spot forks: Look for enemy pieces that are undefended or more valuable than your attacker. Then ask which squares attack two of them simultaneously. Pay particular attention to the king and queen, which are the most valuable targets.
The pin
A pin happens when a piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it. Pins are created by long-range pieces: bishops, rooks and queens.
There are two types:
- Absolute pin: the piece behind is the king. The pinned piece literally cannot move, because moving would put its own king in check.
- Relative pin: the piece behind is valuable but not the king. Moving the pinned piece is legal, but it would lose material.
A common pin in the opening is a bishop pinning a knight to the queen or king. The pinned knight becomes a target, and you can attack it again with a pawn or another piece.
How to use pins: Once a piece is pinned, pile up on it. Attack it with more pieces than the opponent can defend with, and it often falls.
The skewer
A skewer is the reverse of a pin. A long-range piece attacks a valuable piece, which must move out of the way, exposing a less valuable piece behind it, which you then capture.
The classic example is a rook or queen checking a king, with the queen standing behind it on the same line. The king steps aside, and you capture the queen.
How to spot skewers: Look for enemy pieces lined up on the same rank, file or diagonal, especially when the front piece is the more valuable one.
The discovered attack
A discovered attack happens when you move one piece out of the way and reveal an attack by another piece behind it. The moving piece can make its own threat at the same time, so the opponent faces two problems at once.
The most powerful version is the discovered check. The revealed attack is on the king, so the opponent must deal with the check, while the piece that moved is free to capture almost anything. A double check, where both the moving piece and the revealed piece give check, is even stronger, because the only legal reply is to move the king.
How to spot them: Look for your own pieces lined up behind other pieces of yours, pointing towards valuable enemy targets.
Supporting ideas
Several smaller ideas help set up these tactics:
- Removing the defender: capture or chase away a piece that is guarding something important.
- Deflection: force a defending piece to move away from its duty.
- Decoy: lure an enemy piece onto a square where it can be forked or skewered.
- Overloading: a single defender is guarding two things at once and cannot handle both.
These often work as the first move of a combination, preparing a fork, pin or skewer on the next move.
A routine for every move
Tactics are easy to miss in the flow of a game. A simple routine helps catch them. Before every move, ask:
- Checks: What checks can I give?
- Captures: What can I capture?
- Threats: What can I attack?
Then ask the same questions from your opponent's point of view. What checks, captures and threats do they have? This routine, sometimes called "checks, captures, threats", will catch most simple tactics on both sides.
Practising tactics
The best way to improve is to solve many short puzzles. Each puzzle shows a position and asks you to find the winning sequence. Over time you build a library of patterns in your head.
You can also review your own games. Whenever you lost material, go back and find the moment the tactic became possible. Usually there was a warning sign, such as an undefended piece or two pieces lined up on the same diagonal.
Bringing it to your games
Tactics feel like magic when they work. One quiet knight move, and suddenly you are a rook ahead. Play a few games against the computer on our 3D chess board with a single goal: look for one fork, pin, skewer or discovered attack every game. You will be surprised how often they appear once you start looking.
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