Pin: knight to c3
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The tactical motive
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 2099 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
Black 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 g1, queen h4, rook a1, bishop d2 b3, pawn g2 h2 c3 b4 d4 e4.
Black: king g8, queen d6, rook a8, bishop b6, knight d5, pawn c6 f6 a7 f7 g7 h7.
11 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 26 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 26, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for Black: b, d, e.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
26... Nxc3 27. Bxc3 Bxd4+ 28. Kh1 Bxc3
Why it works
- Great move! knight to c3 keeps the pressure (+3.7).
- Well found: bishop to d4 (+3.7).
- Strong! bishop to c3 is the sharp choice (+3.8).
- You reach a winning position (+3.8).
- If instead Bxc3, then Bxd4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 26… Nxc3 — knight to c3 (capture)
- 27. Bxc3 — bishop to c3 (capture)
- Bxd4+ — bishop to d4 (capture) with check
- 28. Kh1 — king to h1
- Bxc3 — bishop to c3 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 015
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