Chess tactics pdf free download

By using our site, you agree to our collection of information through the use of cookies. To learn more, view our Privacy Policy. To browse Academia. Log in with Facebook Log in with Google. Remember me on this computer. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. Download Free PDF. Learn Chess Tactics. Vinicius Recuero. A short summary of this paper.

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E-mai l : info gambitbooks. Most chess games are decided by tactics. At higher levels, long-term strategic thinking is also important, but even amongst grandmasters tactics predomi nate. Those who enj oy rapid or blitz chess will already be aware that the faster the time-limit. At lower levels, tactics are especially prevalent and the quickest way for most players to achieve better results i s to improve their tactical ability.

The first five chapters deal with the most important and fundamental game-wi nning tactics: fork, discovered attack, pin, skewer and deflection.

The following seven chapters cover slightly more advanced topics. Chapter 1 3 deals specifically with the way in which the basic tactical elements can be linked together to form more elaborate 'combinations' Readers should note that this is not a book about attacking play ; the basic ideas presented are those that win material, which is the key to scoring the maximum number of points.

Thus you will not find standard attacking combinations e. In real life, some games are decided by a direct attack on the enemy king. Within each chapter. The reader is strongly advi sed to start at Chapter 1 and work steadily through the book, tackling the exerc i ses at the end of each chapter before moving on to the next one.

The reason for thi s is that later chapters use concepts deve loped in earl ier ones; moreover, the exercises themselves contain important ideas and are not there just for testing whether the reader has been paying attention. There is also a gradual increase in difficu lty throughout the book and in later chapters some points are presumed rather than being spell out in detai l as in the earlier chapters.

The final chapter consists of a set of exercises in which no hint is given as to theme or difficulty. The positions are all from real games and all except one are from recent since play. There are good reasons for thi s.

I hope to have avoided this by de liberate ly steeri ng clear of well-known examples and focusing on positions which are recent enough not to have appeared frequently in print.

Readers may be surprised by the fact that in many of the examples, one player resigns after losing a relatively modest amount of material. This is a reflection of the fact that most of the examples are taken from games by i nternational players ; at this level, losing two pawns or the equivalent without compensation is usually a cause for resignation.

Even the loss of one pawn, if it is accompanied by a positional disadvantage, may be enough for a player to throw in the towel. This leads on to another point. It would have been easy to i nclude only tactics leading to a large gain of material, but this would create a deceptive i mpression.

Many games are decided by tactics that win a mere pawn or its equivalent. Having secured a material advantage, the player resolutely swaps all the pieces off, promotes a pawn and finally delivers mate with the extra queen if the opponent doesn't resign first. I have therefore included some examples in which the gain of material is quite modest. Readers may l ike to have a quick look at this to see if there i s any unfamiliar material before proceeding to the main part of the book.

Those who have read my earlier book Learn Chess will be able to skip this preliminary chapter. Prerequ i s ites a n d Sym bo l s The rules of the game are assumed and will a b c d e h not be covered in thi s book. In this book we use algebraic notation, 7 which is the world-wide standard for chess 6 notation.

The vertical columns of squares are called files, and the horizontal rows are called ranks. In the above diagram one rank and one file have been marked. In is given a unique name, as shown in the the same way the eight squares on the marked above diagram.

The names are based on a rank have names running from 'a4 ' to 'h4' system of coordinates, with the left to right These all end in a '4' so this is cal led the direction being represented by the letters 'a' fourth rank. The exception is for pawn moves, d 1. Thus a knight uous moves, then ranks are used instead: thus move to f3 is written ' 4Jf3 ' , while a pawn if rooks on c 1 and c7 can both move to c5, we move to e4 is written simply ' e4 '.

If a move is write either ' l::!. Note that a 3 white move and its following black move are given the same move number. The result of a game may be indicated as follows: The five marked moves are written:.

It is easy to compare a position ticular square as, for example, 'the pawn on in which White has a knight, a bishop and a e4 ' or 'the e4-pawn' The players are called pawn and Black has a kni ght and a pawn - White and Black and are capitalized. Thus clearly White is a bishop up. It must be emphasized conventions which are far from universal in that this table of material values is a rule of chess writing. Firstly, moves given in bold thumb rather than a strict law.

A particular are those actually played in the game. As a general principle, a material rows represent moves actually played, while advantage of two points is sufficient to dotted arrows represent potential moves or win, subject to certain provisos.

First of all, threats. When a game is quoted, we give the names Compensation can take many forms, some of the players and the event in which the quite subtle, but compensation for materi al game took place. Often in chess books you loss normally ari ses when the materi al is will see a variety of abbreviations used to sacrificed deliberately.

How, then, can you achieve isn't possible. Of course this raises the tory? That is the subj ect of this book. B eing pends on the position and there is no general familiar with these will win you plenty of rule which enables one to decide. In many cases, there will be no way to meet both threats and material loss will be inevitable.

Although the fork is one of the most basic tactical devices, it is also one of the most B common in practice and decides countless games at all levels of play from begi nner up to as in the above example grandmaster. A fork is easier to overlook if there is J. Polga r - Macieja something a little bit out of the ordi nary Rapidplay, Budapest about it. It is not immediately obvious that the white rooks are vulnerable to a fork ; they This position is a clear example.

Black are only undefended because the pawn on d5 played The diagram at the top of the Moreover, one 'prong ' of the fork points up next column shows the situation. Ruck - Krasen kow European Ch, Ohrid In this position the black king is exposed to checks along the back rank. White's queen is in a position to check on either b8 or d8, and that means that any undefended pieces Holmsten - G. This left his rook on king from c I to b1; he now resigned without g5 undefended and White was not slow to waiting for Once again there is a ponent has to respond to the check, which psychological element to Black's blunder.

He often leaves him little chance to deal with any must have realized before playing Just but the two pieces most effective at forki ng as with a check, a threat of mate has to be are the queen and the knight. The reason is dealt with at once and this gives the attacker a that the queen and knight tan attack in eight free tempo to wreak havoc elsewhere. The king, it is true, can also attack in eight ways, but it is such a short range piece that i s not very effective at forking.

In addition, the king is normal ly not in the thick of the battle and therefore usually only comes within range of the enemy in the endgame, when there isn't much around to fork.

Both the queen and knight can create forks which are relatively hard to spot in advance. Polgar-Macieja so that no undefended piece is safe. He played 31 tLle6, threatening both 3 2 tLl x c 5 and, more seri ously, 3 2 "Wig7. Clearly the mate threat takes priority over everything else. Black can meet it with a move such as w 3 I. Note that Black cannot reply 3 l.

Black ' s only other possibility is 3 I. Therefore Black resigned at once. Thi s turned out to be a mistake because nerable on e6. As White is now a piece up, he no rook. However, Black saw that the most always confers a decisive advantage, opening of the queen 's line from e4-h l gave but here B lack had the additional misfortune him the opportunity to set up a fork by means that White was able to break through quickly of a check. The finish was It is possible assume that just because you have made a that Black thought he could counter White ' s capture, your opponent must recapture.

More often there is no immediate fork, but it is possible to force the opponent's pieces into position for a subsequent fork.

There are two possibilities. If B lack plays The alternative is Previously White ' s check on d6 was not a serious threat, W but by pushing the pawn B lack allowed White an additional check on g4, and this proved his undoing.

We first have to spot that there is a potenti al knight fork of B lack 's king and bi shop on d6. The question then is how White can get rid of the obstructive pawn and M i ru m i a n - Steh l i k make his wish come true. White continued Plzen 40 d7!

Black has to deal with this threat. Wg8 1 0 ttlxg4 ttlxg4 1 1 'iWxg4 h5? Another possibility is to clear the stage for the follow-up which regains all the square on which the fork will take place. If Black accepts the sacrifice knight.

However, not all forks are decisive by However, we are on the rifice is no better as the king cannot continue right lines with the idea of a fork on d5 , but it to guard the bishop; after Black must picks up further material because he is now recapture on f6 or else he will be a piece forking Black's queen and rook.

As mentioned in the introduction, it of removing the guard. We shall have more to say about venting the fork.

How can remain material down. The game continued Black was forced to accept or lose the exchange and a pawn, but after Here White is using the pin along the e-file to justify his play.

Moving the king is no help, as White would then win queen and pawn for bishop and knight a gain of four points , so Black played 2 However, accepting it by 43 gxh3 removes the pawn ' s guard of f3 , and after A quick count shows that Black has a rook and two knights for a queen and a pawn, so he is actually one point ahead on material.

Has a b c d e g h all White's brilliance been in vain? Material is roughly equal. What should Black play? White has just taken a pawn on e5 with his How did Black win the game with a fork? Was this a good idea? How does White win a piece with a fork? Black has j ust moved his rook from a8 to A sharp tactic netted White a piece. How can White win the black queen? How did White win a piece? White is in check. What should he play?

How did Black win a vital pawn? Does this How does Black use the undefended rook win material? How made it seem easy. B lack's queen is attacked. What should he How does White set up a decisive fork? FORK 23 36 39 w w Black has just taken a piece on b 3. Should How can White win a piece with a knight White recapture? How did B lack set up a decisive queen fork?

How did White set up a knight fork with two preliminary sacrifices? In the above example the e7- attack is a way of creating two threats at the pawn is the firing piece and the black queen same time. Black ' s queen queen. At the moment there is a black pawn and bi shop are li ned up on the long diagonal , in the way, but Black now played 16 e6. Any move by thi s knight wil l knight. Therefore Black must look for a way to qiscovery.

White 's queen cannot move so as move the d5-knight so as to set up a second to defend the knight, and so White loses a threat. In the game White struggled on for a rably. In addition to the threat to the f3- few moves before resigning.

White queen. However, there is no immediate discovered a b c d e g h attack and, moreover, Black must first deal with the attack on his queen. Karpov solved w the problem by 18 J! This preliminary.. The finish was 1 9 il.. A check is one of the most forcing moves, Karpov - Leko so a discovered attack which is also a check Tilburg gives the defender less chance to escape from his predicament. Either of the two pieces This is a more complex example because a involved in a discovered attack can deliver preliminary sacrifice is necessary to set up check.

In the next position it is the firing the discovered attack. In the diagram White piece which checks. Any move by the knight will deliver attack and his g5-knight is caught in a nasty check by discovery from White ' s queen. White turned the tables by 28 l:txh6! The result is that Black will take the bishop on d6. Black will lose his end up at least a piece down, and he therefore queen, for example This particular combination was 1 7. The rear piece delivers check, which the defender has to deal with.

With two free moves to play with, it is not surprising that quite a lot of damage can be done. White 's queen pawn to prevent White from blocking the long and knight are li ned up against the enemy diagonal with f3 The discovered check may seem deadly There is one type of discovered attack enough, but it is not the ultimate chess which is very easy to overlook.

This involves weapon. That accolade belongs to the double what we call pin-breaking. The following check, a special type of discovered check in example makes the idea clear. The key feature of the double check is that the only legal reply is a king move. Black's g4-bishop is apparently pinning the white knight on f3. Indeed, if the knight moves then Golod - Zak Black can take White's queen.

White played White has lost a piece. Nevertheless, White 31 tZ:lxfS! However, if B lack plays 3 1. White finally, 14 lLlxe4 'iVxh4 also gives B l ack an now played 5lt'lxe5! After 1 3. Black could have played on a to play on a pawn down with a bad position, pawn down by 5.

Solutions start on page 1 1 7. In the following example, it was not a mate threat but a threat to the enemy queen which allowed the pin to be broken. Stone - Ni jboer a b c d e g h Den Bosch 1 2 w Here the knight on f6 appears pinned, but Black broke the pin by The pin has been converted into a discovered attack, with the knight attacking White's queen, and the black queen attacking White's h4-bishop.

What is the simplest way for White to win? Black won with a discovered attack. How did White set up a discovered attack How? Is there one here? In this rather complex position, how can Black win material? How did a discovered check help Black to win? What is his best How did Black set up a decisive discov- continuation? White won quickly. How did White win an important pawn? Was this a good. It is very B lack' s queen. The basic idea involves three pieces, one friendly and two enemy, all lying on the same line.

Here is an example. In the above case, White emy pieces. Both enemy pieces are on the lost a queen, while Black lost a queen and a same side of the friendly piece. We call the knight, so the net result was that White gained nearer enemy piece in this case the pawn a knight. However, if Black 's queen had been the pinned piece and the distant enemy piece defended, so that he could have taken White's here the queen the rear piece.

In thi s and so he would have avoided materi al loss. It cannot move off the pin-line at all, and so the looks as though the d2-square is adequately material values are less i mportant. White resigned straight The f3-knight is pinned by the B b7-bishop, while the queen on e2 is pinned by Black's rook. In most cases there are clues which alert players can spot. Here the line-up of the b7-bishop and White's king is the key feature; looking at this reveals that any move by the d5 -rook will totally paralyse White's knight, rendering it incapable of guarding any square.

That leads naturally to the d2- square, and the lethal second pi n. If you are lucky then you may be able to Rublevsky - Vaga n ia n win material with an immediate pin, but few Olympiad, Elista 1 opponents are so helpful as to lose material in one move. In most cases the pin has to be Here Black' s queen is pinning the white prepared; this will usually involve forcing rook against the white king. The rook has no moves such as captures and checks.

After B a b c d e h B Topalov - Lautier Tilburg 1 The f2-pawn is pinned by Black 's queen, but this observation leads to no immediate Dongu i nes - Ad ia nto win. Therefore it would not do simply to take twice on d7 ; although 5 this would regain the exchange, White would then be a pawn down in the endgame.

The white piece which is currently In this position the white rook is pinned, playing little part in the action is the rook on even though there is no other white piece on g I. White must seek to acti vate this rook, but the pin-line. If the rook moves, then Black although the pin holds Black captive for the has instant mate by.

Black played castle, this would drop a whole rook on d7. White played resi gned since the second attack on his rook The quoted game concluded 10 loss ; for example, The game actually finished This example is typical in that fewer than 1 32 examples of it. Solutions start on page 1 2 1. What shou ld prising refutation : 6 4Jxd5!

How can White win materi a l? How did White gain materi al? PIN 39 In this position B lack won a vital pawn. How did Black use a pin to bring the game How? White played Was this a good move? Can Black win a pawn using two pins? How did White step up the pressure and win material? How did Black win material using a pi n? White won material using a pi n. PIN Two forcing moves finished White off. How did Black win material? Does Black have anything better 1 capture 3 How did White pin and win?

Does 28 tt::lx e6 fxe6 29 l:. Thus far it i s the same as a pin, but now comes the crucial difference. In a pin the nearer enemy piece is less valuable than the more distant enemy piece, while in a skewer it is the other way around. In the above example, the queen was more valuable than the knight. The queen, when attacked by the bishop, had to move, 2 exposing the knight to capture. A particularly i mportant case arises when Ceba lo - Fercec the front more valuable piece is the king, Croatian Ch, Pula 1 since then the defender may have no choice but to move it.

Black spotted the line-up of White 's queen and b4-knight and played Then White has to move his king, allowing Black to take the rook on g7 for nothing.

Skewers which are Sol utions start on page 1 As with the other tactical motifs in this book, it may be necessary to prepare the skewer with a preliminary manoeuvre. Firstly, Black cannot take this rook with his e6-pawn, because it is pinned by White ' s queen. White wrapped the game up by How did he regain the piece and reach avoid mate by 'iVfl. Black played Wf8, allows 2 1 'VJVxc8. Not al l tactics are of this Black therefore resigned.

In thi s chapter we meet for the first time tactics which depend on the functions of the The important duty which forms the basis pieces invol ved rather than the geometry of for a deflection doesn ' t have to be defence the chessboard. In the following example it is the has an important duty. If it is forcibly pulled defence of another piece. Unlike a mating threat, the In the diagram, Blac k ' s c8-rook has a vital duty of defending a piece can be abandoned, responsibility - covering d8 so as to prevent albeit at the cost of the piece in question.

White from mating by. If it is forced to Whether the deflection is worthwhile depends abandon this duty then the game will end at on the relative value of the pieces in questi on ; once. This deflection is han:k!

When you have cause the white king ' s important duty isn ' t won material, it is important not to relax and obvious in the diagram -. The move one would consider while the white rest of this game is a perfect example of how king is sti l l guarding h I. Chess cannot be not to exploit a material advantage. Here is a recent example. It is quite common for deflections to play a major role in attacks on the king.

If this rook could be deflected away, then White would lose his queen. White therefore resigned. The tion his d4-knight is caught in a pin. It might typical features of this tactic are a rook on the seem hopeless, but Black actually won with first rank defending a queen, and an enemy the aid of a deflection : White rook which can land on the first rank with resigned as 48 Wxfl is met by Vh l , check.

In all credibly easy to overlook. Since checks this book, deflections can occur with varying are such forcing moves, it is not surprising degrees of complexi ty. However, non-checking deflections are also quite common.

At first sight the White's fl -bishop has the ' important duty ' queen is not needed because the d5-knight is of preventing. Wiix g2 , so it is not genuinely defended by the e6-pawn, but this pawn is covering the d3- square. Black exploited this pinned by the white queen. In other words, if by The the queen were not defending d5 then White queen also has a duty, that of guarding the could win a piece by playing.

A quick check shows that the. This leads us to the wi nning queen has no move which sti l l defends the move 12 g4! White wins a piece The game continued 30 Wlixd3 this looks like and the game conc luded Jhd3 J::t d 2! Wxh8 30 gxf7 suddenly White has two deadly threats, 3 1. Black resigned because after 3 1. Cra m l i ng - Barkhagen Hasselbacken insert some checks, but Black has a bishop and knight for a rook and a pawn, so material is roughly equal.

A more important factor is the activity of several white pieces, but for the moment there is no direct way to break through. A queen check on e7 would be decisive, but Black's queen cover s this square. However, Dreev noticed that this is an important duty for the black queen, and he went on to look for a way the queen could be deflected away from this duty. The game continued with the sacrifice Koga n - Sama rita n i If Black plays The difference material advantage.

B lack saw all this and is that in a deflection it is the departure of the therefore resigned. Then it vourable. In this book our focus is on winning games, and We end with a form of deflection which is not on the nuances of chess termi nology ; subtly different from the examples we have therefore for simplicity we will use the word seen so far. Deflection Exercises Solutions start on page 1 I w B h u iya n - Liogky Sautron White ' s queen has the i mportant task of defending the outlying knight on g 5 , but there is no way to deflect the queen away from this duty.

The game continued l l e White is a pawn down. Black resigned after White's next move. What was it? How did White win material? Question 2: What tactic is played as an 'in-between move' and is often considered a desperado idea?

Question 4: What checkmate theme is the climax position of the infamous 'Venus Fly Trap' mating net? Question 5: What tactical idea attacks an enemy piece, or defends one of your own pieces, directly through an enemy pieces gaze?

Answers: 1. Zwischenzug; 3. Smothered Mate; 5. X-Ray Tactic. Tactics, tactics and more tactics! Learn what it takes to win using tactics! The image suggests the main focus areas of an effective chess tactics training program: Visualization skills The ability to visualize an imaginary position that would result if certain moves were to be made. An instructional workbook containing carefully selected problems presented in worksheet format.

Chess Tactics For Students has been extensively field tested with elementary, middle-school, and high-school students over. Tasks: Like exercise for an athlete, tactics training must be a regular part of a chess player's training.

Learn to recognize common tactical patterns. Identify tactics in your games. Your assignment: Continue playing practice games throughout this study plan. Even though there are no pieces behind the black knight, moving the knight will allow 2. A positional advantage is often achieved by means of a tactic that does not win material, but gains a strategic advantage.

In the position below white has a bad bishop, whilst black has a good bishop because the pawn-structure in the center makes the black bishop more active.

This exchange will give white increased control of the c-file, particularly of the c5-square and c7-square. At the same time the rook on c2 now defends the knight on e2. When a chess piece performs an important defensive task we refer to that piece as a defender. Since that piece serves important an important role, the piece itself becomes vulnerable to tactical ideas.

Also known as undermining. This gives white a tactical opportunity:. Since black must deal with the check first, white will capture the black queen on the next move. The other logical way to remove a defender is to overload it sometimes referred to as a deflection tactic. However, this rook also defends against a Back Rank Mate, else white could play Re8. This gives white an opportunity to overload the defender:.

Demolition of Pawn Structure refers to removing the defenders pawns in front of castled king, usually at the cost of a sacrifice. The Greek Gift Sacrifice is an example of this tactical idea. The attacking player will sacrifice a bishop to demolish the pawn-barrier in front of the enemy king. Diagram above: Black played 13… Bxa3, demolishing the pawn structure that defend the white king.

If white accepts the sacrifice then Kc1 Qxc2. A tactical sacrifice in contrast to a positional sacrifice which gives you a strategic compensation is when you temporarily sacrifice a higher-valued piece in order to create a new target that you can immediately exploit. The point is that the value of this new target will exceed the value of the sacrifice you made.

In the first tactic presented in this list of chess tactics, white sacrificed their rook for a bishop in order to setup a pin:. White temporarily sacrifices material but wins it back, with interest, on the following moves. Simplification actually refers to a strategic idea where the player with a material advantage wants to simplify the situation by exchanging as many pieces as possible.

The goal is to achieve a relatively risk-free endgame situation. In the example below white has a clear advantage, thanks to the extra unopposed pawn on the a-file. White finds a way to simplify the situation by exchanging all the remaining pieces and achieves a risk-free winning position.

A skewer is a chess tactic that occurs when an attacked piece must move to safety but will expose a lower-valued piece or target behind it:. Re1 is a skewer on the black queen. If the queen moves to a safe square, white will capture the undefended knight on e7.

In chess, time is measured in moves. If you gain time by making a threat that forces your opponent to defend passively, you have gained a tempo in the process. In the example below black wants to play 1… Nxe3 2. Qxe3 Bd4! However, white is currently threatening bxa5. If black can find a way to move the queen and make a threat at the same time, he will be gaining the tempo he needs.

Diagram above: Black plays 1… Qh5! A single tempo move is also referred to as a zwischenzug. In some situations you can even gain a number of tempos in a row, which can often be converted to some advantage. When a chess piece becomes severely limited in its mobility, such piece is often vulnerable to tactics, particularly to being trapped:.

White can take advantage of this fact and win the queen by playing 1. Bc4, winning the trapped queen. Triangulation is a mostly endgame technique used to force your opponent into zugzwang. The point is that the same position is achieved after one side made 3 moves, whereas the other side made only two moves. However, by means of triangulation white can reach the same position and hand the move to black:. Kd5 Kf6 2. Ke4 Ke7 3.

With the correct technique white will now be able to create an unstoppable passed pawn. An example of the power of two rooks on the 7th rank is the Blind Swine Checkmate Pattern. It demonstrates the power of two connected rooks on the 7th rank. The example below demonstrates how difficult it is two stop two rooks on the 7th rank. The position is from the game Swiderski — Nimzowitsch, Diagram above: White plays 2. A weak back-rank refers to the situation where is a castled king is trapped behind their own shield of pawns and rely on a rook or queen to defend the back rank.

This means you can sometimes overload the piece that is supposed to defend the weak back-rank:. If white captures the knight, 2. Re1 Qxe1. This tactical idea is sometimes referred to as an x-ray attack, but it can also be used as a defensive tactic.

When this tactical idea is employed in an offensive way, it can be referred to as an x-ray attack. Bxd7 wins the black bishop because the white queen on a4 supports the white bishop on d7, through x-ray. Qe1—white uses the X-Ray ability of the queen and rook to defend against the possible Back Rank Mate. If white played 1. Qe1 Rxe1. The idea is best explained by means of an example:.

Diagram above: White wants to capture the black rook on e5 with their pawn. At the moment the f4-pawn is pinned.

Black must deal with the check then white can capture the rook on the next move. Feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions to further improve this list of chess tactics. Chess Tactics Exercises Pdf Free Chess Tactics Pdf Free In this lesson you will find a list of chess tactics that you should learn as part of training your tactical skill. How many chess tactics are there?

List of Chess Tactics The list of chess tactics below is quite long. The purpose of this lesson is to make you aware of all the key tactical ideas in chess. For easy reference the tactics are listed in alphabetical order: Note: The above list of chess tactics exclude common checkmate patterns.

Attraction Attraction tactics occur when you lure or force an enemy piece onto a square where it will become vulnerable to another tactical ideas: Diagram above: 1. Battery In chess, a battery refers to lining up two or more pieces on the same diagonal, rank or file.

Qxg7 The queen is supported by the bishop on b2. Get your copy of the 7 skills training model Download this helpful summary of the important skills you need to train! Decoy A decoy is a tactical idea where you lure your opponent piece away from where it is needed. Deflection Deflection is a from of removing a defender. After the trade you will be able to take advantage of the newly weakened square: Diagram above: White plays 1. Desperado Desperado is when you sacrifice an attacked piece before making another capture.

The example will illustrate a desperado tactic: Diagram above: White wants to play Rxb7 but black will then play Rxe7, resulting in an equal exchange of the queens. Discovered Attack A discovered attack occurs when moving a piece reveals a strong threat from a piece hiding behind it.

Note that on every move black is forced to move their king: Diagram above: 1. Domination Domination is a unique situation usually in the endgame where a piece is trapped even though it seemingly had many squares to move to. Domination Example 2 The next example of domination is an endgame study a combined effort by Troitsky and Reti that demonstrates how a knight can, under perfect circumstances, dominate a bishop on a long diagonal: Diagram above: White plays 1.

Double Attack A double attack is a situation where one or more of your pieces make multiple threats. Double Check The interesting thing about a double check is that the only way to get out of check is to move the king. Perpetual Check Diagram above: 1. Perpetual Attack A perpetual attack is a tactical idea where you force your opponent to repeat the position by attacking a valuable target repeatedly.

Stalemate Tactics When all seems lost in an endgame situation, you can look for opportunities to force a draw by means of a stalemate. However, if they can force black to capture their queen, it would be stalemate: Diagram above: White plays 1.

Endgame Tactics The endgame stage lends itself to tactical ideas that are common in the endgame. In the Fried Liver Opening, it is quite common to reach the following position: Diagram above: White can exploit the inherent weakness of the f7-square by playing 1. Fork A fork is a type of double attack whereby a single piece makes multiple threats: Diagram above: 1. Knight Fork Among amateur chess players, tactics that involve knights forks are notorious for being unexpected.

This is because knight forks are harder to spot due to the non-linear movements of the knight: Diagram above: 1. The Difference Between a Double Attack and a Fork A double attack is a situation where one or more of your pieces make multiple threats. Hit-and-Run The following tactical pattern is quite common in chess, yet I have not seen it named as a unique pattern.

This tactic boils down to a moment where you capture an enemy piece and at the same time move your piece out of danger: Diagram above: White plays 1.