Discovered attack: bishop to d4
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 687 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A discovered attack fires when one piece steps aside and unmasks the piece behind it. Look for your own units that block a rook, bishop or queen: moving the front piece — ideally with a threat of its own — springs two attacks in one move.
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, rook e1 e2, bishop b3 d4, pawn a2 b2 c3 g3 h3.
Black: king g7, rook e7 e8, bishop e5, knight g4, pawn f5 g5 a6 d6 b7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 38.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 21 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g7.
It is Black to move on move 38, with 29 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): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c, h.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The Black king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
38... Bxd4+ 39. cxd4 Rxe2 40. Rxe2 Rxe2
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to d4 keeps the pressure (+6.0).
- Well found: rook to e2 (+5.9).
- Strong! rook to e2 is the sharp choice (+5.9).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead cxd4, then Rxe2 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 38… Bxd4+ — bishop to d4 (capture) with check
- 39. cxd4 — pawn to d4 (capture)
- Rxe2 — rook to e2 (capture)
- 40. Rxe2 — rook to e2 (capture)
- Rxe2 — rook to e2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
Battery
Two pieces stacked on one line — the front one strikes with double force.
A battery stacks two long-range pieces on one line — a queen behind a bishop on a diagonal, or doubled rooks on a file. The front piece strikes with double force: capture it, and the piece behind recaptures with even more pressure. The battery is ready when both pieces already stare at one point and only the front strike is missing. Build batteries in advance on lines leading to the king — the doubling itself often breeds the combination.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 001
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