Discovered attack: pawn to c4 (b5)
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 1115 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
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 d3, rook b1 b2, bishop c5, pawn a3 e3 c4 d4 f4.
Black: king h6, rook b7 b8, bishop g7, pawn h4 a5 b5 g6 e7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 18 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on d3, the black king on h6.
It is Black to move on move 33, with 25 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for Black: c, d, f.
The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33... bxc4+ 34. Kxc4 Rxb2
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to c4 keeps the pressure (+5.4).
- Well found: rook to b2 (+5.4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kxc4, then Rxb2 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 33… bxc4+ — pawn to c4 (capture) with check
- 34. Kxc4 — king to c4 (capture)
- Rxb2 — rook to b2 (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.
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.
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 007
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