Skewer: queen to c6
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The tactical motive
Deflection: force the defender to abandon its post.
Skewer: a valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the one behind it.
Difficulty 1972 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
Deflection drags a defender away from its duty. Identify the enemy piece that guards a key square or mate, then force it to move — with a check, a capture or a threat it must answer — and strike where it no longer defends.
A skewer is a pin reversed — the valuable piece stands in front and, when it moves, the piece behind falls. Line your rook, bishop or queen up against the king or queen and win whatever is hiding behind it.
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 d3, queen d7, pawn c3.
Black: king a6, rook a4 b5.
3 white and 3 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 57.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 10 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on d3, the black king on a6.
It is White to move on move 57, with 24 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 1 pawns, Black 0. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, d, e, f, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
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
57. Qc6+ Ka5 58. Qa8+ Kb6 59. Qxa4
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c6 keeps the pressure (+4.9).
- Well found: queen to a8 (+5.3).
- Strong! queen to a4 is the sharp choice (+5.4).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Ka5, then Qa8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 57. Qc6+ — queen to c6 with check
- Ka5 — king to a5
- 58. Qa8+ — queen to a8 with check
- Kb6 — king to b6
- 59. Qxa4 — queen to a4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Skewer
A line attack forces the valuable piece to move, exposing the one behind it.
A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the valuable piece stands in front and something cheaper hides behind it. The big piece must step aside, and you collect the one that was sheltering in its shadow. Scan for the enemy king or queen sharing a file, rank or diagonal with another enemy piece. The deadliest version comes with check — the king moves, the rook behind it dies.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 014
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