Pin: rook to g2
li-00bvsOpens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 2193 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A pin freezes a piece in front of a more valuable one behind it. Scan the ranks, files and diagonals your bishop, rook or queen controls: if an enemy piece cannot move without exposing its king or queen, it is pinned and can be piled on or bypassed.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king g1, queen h5, rook a1 g2, bishop d2, pawn h2 c3 d4 f4 a5.
Black: king f6, queen c2, rook g4, knight d5, pawn c4 f5 e6 g7.
10 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 6 points of material (27 against 21; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on f6.
It is Black to move on move 33, with 28 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: a, d, h.
The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33... Rxg2+ 34. Kxg2 Nxf4+ 35. Kg1 Nxh5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g2 keeps the pressure (+6.5).
- Well found: knight to f4 (+7.1).
- Strong! knight to h5 is the sharp choice (+7.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxg2, then Nxf4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 33… Rxg2+ — rook to g2 (capture) with check
- 34. Kxg2 — king to g2 (capture)
- Nxf4+ — knight to f4 (capture) with check
- 35. Kg1 — king to g1
- Nxh5 — knight to h5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Decoy
A sacrifice lures the king or a piece onto a fatal square.
A decoy is the mirror image of deflection: you sacrifice to drag the king or a piece onto a fatal square. The classic is a queen or rook sac whose capture pulls the king into a knight fork, a discovered check or mate. Find the square where the target will be hit, then find the offer it cannot refuse. Calculate to the very end — a decoy only works when the follow-up is forced.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 015
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads