Quiet moves
A move with no check and no capture, and a threat that cannot be met.
The idea
A move with no check or capture, but with a threat that cannot be met.
- The knight moves here, with no check and no capture.
- The knight now guards this square, so the rook threatens mate on it.
- Black cannot stop it, and the rook mates next move.
In a game: When no check or capture works, look for a quiet move with a threat that cannot be stopped.
How the lesson begins
Most tactics start with a check or a capture. But a quiet move, one that gives no check and takes nothing, can be just as deadly. It creates a threat that the other side cannot meet.
White has a mate in two, and it starts quietly. Press Next move.
- 1. Nf6 A quiet move: no check, no capture. The knight guards h7 and g8, so the rook now threatens Rh7 mate.
- 1... h5 Black cannot stop the threat. The rook already covers g7 and h7.
- 2. Rh7# Checkmate. The knight protects the rook, and the king has no square.
Find the move
White to move. The bishop on e7 is pinned to the king, and your rook on e5 attacks it. Find the quiet move that wins it.
A hint
Bring your other rook to the e-file.
Show the answer
21. Rae1 O-O-O 22. Rxe7
Rae1 adds a second attacker to the bishop on e7. It is pinned and defended only by the king, so Black cannot save it. Even if the king steps away, the bishop falls.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
1,916 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 1,709 and 2,713.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: pawn 41%, rook 21%, king 13%, queen 9%, bishop 9%, knight 7%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.