Skewer: rook to b8
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The tactical motive
Deflection: force the defender to abandon its post.
Skewer: a valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the one behind it.
Difficulty 865 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
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.
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 d4, rook h8.
Black: king b5, rook c5.
2 white and 2 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 56.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 5 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on d4, the black king on b5.
It is White to move on move 56, with 17 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 0 pawns, Black 0. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
56. Rb8+ Kc6 57. Rc8+ Kd7 58. Rxc5
Why it works
- Great move! rook to b8 keeps the pressure (#16).
- Well found: rook to c8 (#14).
- Strong! rook to c5 is the sharp choice (#12).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kc6, then Rc8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 56. Rb8+ — rook to b8 with check
- Kc6 — king to c6
- 57. Rc8+ — rook to c8 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 58. Rxc5 — rook to c5 (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.
Rook endgame
The most common endgame — activity decides everything.
The rook endgame is the most common of all: rooks and pawns on the board. Its first law is activity — a rook behind a passed pawn beats a rook passively babysitting one. The sign of a correct plan is that your rook is attacking something, not guarding something. The typical error is locking your rook into defense: it is often better to give up a pawn and keep your rook and king active.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 004
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