Skewers
The pin turned round: the valuable piece must move, and you take the one behind it.
The idea
Attack a big piece, and take the one behind it when it moves.
- The rook gives check along the back rank.
- The king has to step off the rank.
- Then White takes the rook that stood behind the king.
In a game: Look for a king or queen with another piece behind it on the same line.
How the lesson begins
A skewer is the opposite of a pin. You attack a valuable piece, and when it moves out of the way, you capture the piece behind it.
White’s rook has just checked the black king from h8. The rook on a8 stands behind the king on the same rank. The king has to leave the rank, and then the rook is attacked. Press Next move.
- 1... Ke7 The king has to step off the eighth rank, and that uncovers the rook behind it.
- 2. Rxa8 The rook takes the rook. White has won a whole rook for nothing.
Find the move
White to move. The black king and queen stand on the same file. Find the check that wins the queen.
A hint
Check along the file, so the king is in front and the queen behind.
Show the answer
1. Re1+
Re1+ checks the king. The king has to leave the e-file, and then the rook takes the queen that stood behind it. The piece in front has to move, and the piece behind it is lost. That is a skewer.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
953 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 1,045 and 2,178.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: rook 49%, queen 24%, bishop 16%, pawn 6%, knight 4%, king 2%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.