Skewer: rook to b7
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The tactical motive
Skewer: a valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the one behind it.
Difficulty 1121 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A skewer is a pin reversed — the valuable piece stands in front and, when it moves, the piece behind falls. Line your rook, bishop or queen up against the king or queen and win whatever is hiding behind it.
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 b4, rook b1, pawn g2 f3 g3 d4 e4.
Black: king c6, rook a7, pawn a4 e6 h6 f7 g7.
7 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 10 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on b4, the black king on c6.
It is Black to move on move 35, with 19 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: d.
The Black king has 5 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
35... Rb7+ 36. Kxa4 Rxb1
Why it works
- Great move! rook to b7 keeps the pressure (+6.8).
- Well found: rook to b1 (+7.1).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kxa4, then Rxb1 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 35… Rb7+ — rook to b7 with check
- 36. Kxa4 — king to a4 (capture)
- Rxb1 — rook to b1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
Rook endgame
The most common endgame — activity decides everything.
The rook endgame is the most common of all: rooks and pawns on the board. Its first law is activity — a rook behind a passed pawn beats a rook passively babysitting one. The sign of a correct plan is that your rook is attacking something, not guarding something. The typical error is locking your rook into defense: it is often better to give up a pawn and keep your rook and king active.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 007
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