Discovered attack: rook to e4 (e6)
li-06SZHnaming 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 1514 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 h3, rook e6, knight g6, pawn a2 b2 c2 f2 g2 h5.
Black: king c8, queen b4, rook d8 g8, knight a5, pawn b5 d5 g5 a6 c7.
10 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 29.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (23 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 29, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
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
29. Re4+ Kb7 30. Rxb4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to e4 keeps the pressure (+4.8).
- Well found: rook to b4 (+5.3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kb7, then Rxb4 and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 29. Re4+ — rook to e4 with check
- Kb7 — king to b7
- 30. Rxb4 — rook to b4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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