Skewer: rook to a6 (a7)
li-0HENXnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Skewer: a valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the one behind it.
Difficulty 1979 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
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 g2, rook e3 a7, bishop f3, pawn f2 a3 g3 h3 c4.
Black: king d6, rook d2 f8, bishop c7, knight h6, pawn c5 g5 h7.
9 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (18 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g2, the black king on d6.
It is White to move on move 27, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, d, e — 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
27. Ra6+ Kd7 28. Rxh6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to a6 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Well found: rook to h6 (+4.3).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Kd7, then Rxh6 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 27. Ra6+ — rook to a6 with check
- Kd7 — king to d7
- 28. Rxh6 — rook to h6 (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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 014
Similar puzzles
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads