Deflection: bishop to g6
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The tactical motive
Deflection: force the defender to abandon its post.
Difficulty 1899 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Deflection drags a defender away from its duty. Identify the enemy piece that guards a key square or mate, then force it to move — with a check, a capture or a threat it must answer — and strike where it no longer defends.
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 h1, queen h7, rook a1 f1, bishop d3, pawn b2 g2 a3 c3 h3.
Black: king f7, queen b6, rook f6 b8, bishop e5, pawn a4 b5 d5 e6 h6 g7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 34.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (27 against 28; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h1, the black king on f7.
It is White to move on move 34, with 36 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, e.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
34. Bg6+ Ke7 35. Qxg7+ Kd6 36. Rxf6
Why it works
- Great move! bishop to g6 keeps the pressure (+4.6).
- Well found: queen to g7 (+4.9).
- Strong! rook to f6 is the sharp choice (+5.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ke7, then Qxg7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 34. Bg6+ — bishop to g6 with check
- Ke7 — king to e7
- 35. Qxg7+ — queen to g7 (capture) with check
- Kd6 — king to d6
- 36. Rxf6 — rook to f6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
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.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 014
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