Discovered attack: knight to e4 (c3)
li-04lFXnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 1153 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White 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, queen d2, rook a1 f1, bishop c1 g2, knight c3 f3, pawn a2 f2 h2 b3 e3 g3 c4 d4.
Black: king g8, queen d8, rook a8 f8, bishop c2 g7, knight b4 e4, pawn d6 g6 a7 b7 c7 e7 f7 h7.
16 white and 16 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 11.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 39 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 g8.
It is White to move on move 11, with 31 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 8. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Qxb4
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e4 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Well found: queen to b4 (+4.3).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Bxe4, then Qxb4 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 11. Nxe4 — knight to e4 (capture)
- Bxe4 — bishop to e4 (capture)
- 12. Qxb4 — queen to b4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 007
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