Pin: queen to c8
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The tactical motive
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 2054 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 c1, queen d1, rook e1, pawn f2 g3.
Black: king g8, queen e6, rook h6, pawn g7 h7.
5 white and 5 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 54.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 16 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on c1, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 54, with 35 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: f.
The Black king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
54... Qc8+ 55. Qc2 Rc6 56. Qxc6 Qxc6+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c8 keeps the pressure (+4.2).
- Well found: rook to c6 (+4.8).
- Strong! queen to c6 is the sharp choice (+5.2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qc2, then Rc6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 54… Qc8+ — queen to c8 with check
- 55. Qc2 — queen to c2
- Rc6 — rook to c6
- 56. Qxc6 — queen to c6 (capture)
- Qxc6+ — queen to c6 (capture) with check
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.
Queen endgame
Queens on an open board — precision above all.
Queen endgames are treacherous: the queen reaches everywhere, and one slip turns a win into perpetual check. The signs are few pawns, exposed kings, and checks hanging in the air. Tuck your king away early, and use your own checks to bring the queen closer or push your passer with tempo. The typical mistake is grabbing pawns while leaving your king exposed to endless checks.
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).
Pack 014
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