Chess Tactics: Pins
Another basic chess tactic that is very useful for beginners to learn and master is the pin. Much like the fork, the pin involves attacking two pieces but the only difference is that one piece is directly attacked while the other is indirectly attacked. This is the case because a pin renders one piece immobile because when it moves, it would give away the other piece, therefore the two pieces are tied to each other. The only way to escape it is to break the pin. Usually, the pinned piece is in front of a more valuable piece which is why it can't move otherwise, the more valuable piece will be captured.
This is the most common kind of pin where the bishop is tying the knight to the queen. If the knight moves, the queen is captured. The only way to break the pin is either to put a piece in between the queen and knight like the bishop, to attack the White bishop with h6 for example thus putting a question to the bishop whether it would retreat or take the knight, or to move the queen to a safer square. As it stands, the queen can't unpin herself so the other two would be the only choices left for Black.
In the early stages of the game, pins aren't usually troublesome. It is during the middle game when you have all your pieces developed when pins could become a burden especially when your opponent has more active pieces than you. Pins can render your pieces to become passive because they restrict their movements, and if you find yourself barraged with multiple pins, you might simply give up from suffocation.
Here is another example of a pin:
This one was from a game I had recently. I was playing black and I took the d5 pawn with my rook which I realized was a mistake but only after the fact. White pinned my rooks so I had to defend the d5 rook and I was an exchange down. However, in this position, I still had a few tricks up my sleeve especially with my 3-to-1 majority on the queenside. In the end, I was able to consolidate my position and win the game.
Forks and pins are two of the most basic chess tactics available to us. It would help us to improve if we learned how to become aware of the possible forks and pins in the position. We can learn to avoid them and to make use of them to our advantage. However, one should take note that these chess tactics are not the be all, end all in the game because they are only tools to support your overall strategy or the positional advantages that you will accumulate. In any case, for the beginner level, it would be most beneficial to be mentally alert and keen to look for such tactics in the position whether to take advantage or avoid them.
This is the most common kind of pin where the bishop is tying the knight to the queen. If the knight moves, the queen is captured. The only way to break the pin is either to put a piece in between the queen and knight like the bishop, to attack the White bishop with h6 for example thus putting a question to the bishop whether it would retreat or take the knight, or to move the queen to a safer square. As it stands, the queen can't unpin herself so the other two would be the only choices left for Black.
In the early stages of the game, pins aren't usually troublesome. It is during the middle game when you have all your pieces developed when pins could become a burden especially when your opponent has more active pieces than you. Pins can render your pieces to become passive because they restrict their movements, and if you find yourself barraged with multiple pins, you might simply give up from suffocation.
Here is another example of a pin:
This one was from a game I had recently. I was playing black and I took the d5 pawn with my rook which I realized was a mistake but only after the fact. White pinned my rooks so I had to defend the d5 rook and I was an exchange down. However, in this position, I still had a few tricks up my sleeve especially with my 3-to-1 majority on the queenside. In the end, I was able to consolidate my position and win the game.
Forks and pins are two of the most basic chess tactics available to us. It would help us to improve if we learned how to become aware of the possible forks and pins in the position. We can learn to avoid them and to make use of them to our advantage. However, one should take note that these chess tactics are not the be all, end all in the game because they are only tools to support your overall strategy or the positional advantages that you will accumulate. In any case, for the beginner level, it would be most beneficial to be mentally alert and keen to look for such tactics in the position whether to take advantage or avoid them.
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