Pin: queen to h5 (h3)
li-095USnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 1827 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A pin freezes a piece in front of a more valuable one behind it. Scan the ranks, files and diagonals your bishop, rook or queen controls: if an enemy piece cannot move without exposing its king or queen, it is pinned and can be piled on or bypassed.
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 c1, queen h3, rook d1 g1, knight b1, pawn b2 c2 h2 a3 d4 f6.
Black: king g8, queen a1, rook e2 f8, bishop d5, knight c6, pawn h5 d6 g6 a7 b7 c7 f7.
11 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (28 against 32; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on c1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 25, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: g.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
25. Qxh5 Be4 26. Qxe2
Why it works
- Brilliant! The queen on h5 is a sacrifice that works — you stand better (+3.0).
- Well found: queen to e2 (+4.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Be4, then Qxe2 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 25. Qxh5 — queen to h5 (capture)
- Be4 — bishop to e4
- 26. Qxe2 — queen to e2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Queen fork
The queen lands on a square from which it attacks two targets at once.
The queen strikes along files, ranks and diagonals, so she forks more often than any other piece. Look for a square where the queen attacks two undefended targets at once — most often a check combined with a loose piece. Diagonal blows are especially venomous: a slanting check that also eyes a rook in the corner is the classic of the genre. Remember that both targets must be unprotected, or your «fork» is just a shot into the air.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 013
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads