Trapped pieces
A piece that is attacked and has nowhere safe to go is lost.
The idea
A piece that is attacked and has no safe square to go to is lost.
- The bishop stands on the edge, with very little room.
- The pawn steps up, attacks it, and blocks its way out.
- This pawn guards both squares the bishop could go to, so the bishop is trapped.
In a game: Look for enemy pieces on the edge with few squares, and take those squares away.
How the lesson begins
A piece is trapped when it is attacked and every square it could move to is covered. It cannot escape, so it is lost. Pieces on the edge of the board are the easiest to trap, and a corner is the worst place of all.
The black bishop on b8 is on the back edge of the board, with very little room. White’s pawn is about to attack it. Watch.
- 48. c7 Bxc7 49. bxc7
Find the move
White to move. The bishop on h8 is stuck in the corner. Find the pawn move that traps it.
A hint
Push the pawn so that it attacks the bishop, and the black king is too far away to help.
Show the answer
1. g7
g7 attacks the bishop, and it has no escape. Its only move is to take the pawn, and then hxg7 leaves a pawn ready to queen. The endgame tablebase (a database of perfectly solved endings) confirms that this wins.
In numbers
In the puzzle bank
707 puzzles in GreyChess’s bank practise it. Half of them are rated between 1,219 and 2,304.
The piece that makes the first move of the answer: bishop 25%, rook 20%, pawn 16%, queen 14%, knight 14%, king 13%, in puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database.