Skewer: rook to a8
li-05TRTOpens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Skewer: a valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the one behind it.
Difficulty 1222 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White 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 h3, rook g8, pawn g3 h4 f5.
Black: king a3, queen b1, rook e6, pawn h5.
5 white and 4 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 54.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (8 against 15; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h3, the black king on a3.
It is White to move on move 54, with 16 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 1. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
54. Ra8+ Kb4 55. Rb8+ Kc5 56. Rxb1
Why it works
- Great move! rook to a8 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- Well found: rook to b8 (+4.8).
- Strong! rook to b1 is the sharp choice (+4.9).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kb4, then Rb8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 54. Ra8+ — rook to a8 with check
- Kb4 — king to b4
- 55. Rb8+ — rook to b8 with check
- Kc5 — king to c5
- 56. Rxb1 — rook to b1 (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.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Queen endgame
Queens on an open board — precision above all.
Queen endgames are treacherous: the queen reaches everywhere, and one slip turns a win into perpetual check. The signs are few pawns, exposed kings, and checks hanging in the air. Tuck your king away early, and use your own checks to bring the queen closer or push your passer with tempo. The typical mistake is grabbing pawns while leaving your king exposed to endless checks.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 008
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads