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Rescue the bishop to e8

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Shuffle Rating 2404Theme: Save the piece: one of your pieces is attacked — find the best way to rescue it.
White to move — find the best continuation

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The tactical motive

Save the piece: one of your pieces is attacked — find the best way to rescue it.

Difficulty 2404 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.

White to move — find the best continuation

Position on the board

White: king g1, rook d8, bishop b5 f6, pawn g2 e3 f3 h3.

Black: king f8, queen c5, bishop e8, pawn b4 g6 h6.

8 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 42.

Solution & explanation

Main line

42. Bxe8 Qxe3+ 43. Kf1

Why it works

  • Great move! bishop to e8 keeps the pressure (+5.5).
  • Well found: king to f1 (+5.8).
  • You win decisive material (+5.8).
  • If instead Qxe3+, then Kf1 and you stay on top.

Types in this puzzle

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.

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.

Save the piece

The attacked piece can be saved — with profit.

Saving the piece: one of your pieces is attacked, and the job is not to lose it for nothing. There are several tools: retreat with tempo, defend it, block the attack, or create a bigger counter-threat. Before retreating automatically, look for a retreat that attacks something — you save the piece and gain time in one move. The typical mistake is panicking onto the first available square, where the piece gets trapped again.

Provenance

Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).

Pack 015

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