Pin: queen to d8
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The tactical motive
Pin: a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it.
Difficulty 1883 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 g1, queen d1, bishop e3, pawn a2 f2 g2 c3 h3.
Black: king g8, queen b2, bishop g7, pawn b6 g6 a7 e7 f7 h7.
8 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (17 against 18; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 23, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, e.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Qd8+ Bf8 24. Bh6 Qc1+ 25. Bxc1
Why it works
- Great move! queen to d8 keeps the pressure (+8.1).
- Well found: bishop to h6 (+8.1).
- Strong! bishop to c1 is the sharp choice (+8.2).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bf8, then Bh6 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 23. Qd8+ — queen to d8 with check
- Bf8 — bishop to f8
- 24. Bh6 — bishop to h6
- Qc1+ — queen to c1 with check
- 25. Bxc1 — bishop to c1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
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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