Skewer: rook to h4 (h5)
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The tactical motive
Skewer: a valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the one behind it.
Difficulty 1150 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 g4, rook d6, knight d4, pawn c5 f5 e6.
Black: king f6, rook h5, bishop c8, pawn d5 g5 b7.
6 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 45.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 11 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g4, the black king on f6.
It is Black to move on move 45, with 14 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c, e, 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
45... Rh4+ 46. Kf3 Rxd4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h4 keeps the pressure (+3.5).
- Well found: rook to d4 (+3.8).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Kf3, then Rxd4 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 45… Rh4+ — rook to h4 with check
- 46. Kf3 — king to f3
- Rxd4 — rook to d4 (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.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 007
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