Deflection and attraction
Pull a defender off its post, or drag a piece onto a bad square.
The idea
Pull a defender away from its job, or drag a piece onto a bad square.
- The rook is the only defender of the black queen.
- White’s rook gives check, and the black rook must take it.
- Now nothing defends the black queen, and White takes her.
In a game: When one piece guards something important, look for a check or capture that pulls it away.
How the lesson begins
A deflection forces a piece away from its job. Here the black rook on a8 is the only defender of the black queen on a1, and the two queens attack each other. If White just took the queen, the rook would take back.
So White first pulls the rook away with a sacrifice. Watch.
- 33. Re8+ Rxe8 34. Qxa1
Find the move
White to move. The rook on e8 defends the rook on c8. Find the sacrifice that pulls it away.
A hint
Check the king with a piece the rook on e8 can take.
Show the answer
27. Bxe6+ Rxe6 28. Rxc8+
Bxe6+ gives check. If the rook on e8 takes the bishop, the rook on c8 is left without a defender, and Rxc8+ wins it.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
1,899 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 1,329 and 2,247.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: queen 31%, rook 28%, bishop 14%, pawn 13%, knight 13%, king 2%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.