Pin: rook to g8
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The tactical motive
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 2295 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 e1, rook f2 c8, bishop e5, pawn a2 d4.
Black: king g6, queen h4, pawn d5 a6 e6 f7 g7 h7.
6 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 30.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 15 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on e1, the black king on g6.
It is White to move on move 30, with 28 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: e, f, g, h.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
30. Rg8 f6 31. Bxf6 Qxf6 32. Rxf6+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to g8 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Well found: bishop to f6 (+5.2).
- Strong! rook to f6 is the sharp choice (+5.0).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead f6, then Bxf6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 30. Rg8 — rook to g8
- f6 — pawn to f6
- 31. Bxf6 — bishop to f6 (capture)
- Qxf6 — queen to f6 (capture)
- 32. Rxf6+ — rook to f6 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Absolute pin
A piece is pinned against its king — it cannot legally move.
An absolute pin freezes a piece on the line between its own king and your long-range attacker: moving it is simply illegal. The pattern is three units on one straight line — your bishop, rook or queen, an enemy piece, and the enemy king behind it. A pinned piece neither attacks nor defends anything: treat it as if it were off the board. Pile up on it, ideally with a pawn, because running away is against the rules.
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.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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