Discovered attack: rook to h6
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 2259 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 e4, rook g6, pawn f6.
Black: king h8, rook c6, pawn b5 h6.
3 white and 4 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 52.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (6 against 7; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on e4, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 52, with 17 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 1 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, d, e, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, h.
The White king has 8 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
52. Rxh6+ Kg8 53. f7+ Kxf7 54. Rxc6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to h6 keeps the pressure (#19).
- Well found: pawn to f7 (#17).
- Strong! rook to c6 is the sharp choice (#15).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kg8, then f7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 52. Rxh6+ — rook to h6 (capture) with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 53. f7+ — pawn to f7 with check
- Kxf7 — king to f7 (capture)
- 54. Rxc6 — rook to c6 (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.
Passed pawn
Nothing can stop the passer — escort it to the last rank.
A passed pawn has no enemy pawns in front of it or on the neighboring files: only pieces can stop it. Check who can blockade the pawn or catch it with the king — if nobody can, the pawn is worth a whole piece. Push the passer with your pieces supporting it, and put your rook behind it. The beginner's mistake is shoving the pawn forward unprotected, straight into a capture.
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).
Pack 015
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