The fundamental tactical motifs every chess player must recognise on sight: forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, and back-rank mates.
Back rank checkmate
Qe8+!
Sacrificing the queen to deliver back rank checkmate
Rd1!
Can you threaten to take the knight and not allow him to move because of checkmate?
f3!
We play f3 to attack the black knight with a pawn (1 point) and threathen to take a knight (3 points)
Rf1+!
Looks like the knight is guarding the back rank checkmate but we have another rook that can do the job
Checkmate
Qxg7#!
Is Nxe7+ the best move?
Pins
Bb2!
If white plays Bb2 can the rook move away from the attack?
Qc3!
Which piece can be pinned, and what pins it?
Bxf6!
Here is a tactic involving a pin. You can win a piece. Can you see how?
Re1!
Re1 pins the bishop to the king. Black has no way to defend the bishop and will get checkmated
Qxg6+!
The bishop on d5 pins the f7 pawn. Can White exploit this to checkmate?
dxc5!
dxc5 unleashes a discovered attack on the rook and the knight also the rook cannot move! It's pinned to the king
Rxa6+!
f4!
Qh6+!
We can use the queen to drive the black king to a square where a discovered attack or skewer wins the queen
Nxe5!
It is important to understand the rules of Chess. Black's Knight cannot legally move due to the pin
Bb5!
Bb5 pins the queen to the bishop
Qxb4!
Can Black win White's queen using a combination of two tactics?
Forks
Ne2+!
What tactic is used here?
e1=N+!
there is a tricky way to hold this position. What option would you go for?
Ng6!
We can use the pin on the f7 pawn to fork black queen and rook
Bb5!
Here we combine two different tactics, a pin and a fork
Skewers
Be4+!
Can the bishop deliver a skewer along the diagonal?
Ra4+!
Can the rook skewer the king and queen?
Bf3!
Can the bishop skewer two pieces on the b7-f3 diagonal?
Qf8+!
Can the queen check the king and win the knight?
Qxf7+!
This combines two tactics, a sacrifice followed by a skewer
Be5+!
This is an advanced skewer. we lure the king away from defence of the queen and then deliver the lethal skewer to pick up the queen
Can White sacrifice a piece to create a skewer?
Rd2!
We attack the queen and double attack the rook on d8
Discovered attacks
Bxh7+!
White queen could take the black queen, if only our bishop would be out of the way
Kd6+!
If black king moves then the white king will be in check, we can use this to our advantage
Nd6+!
If our knight moves we unleash a discovered attack, we use this to win a rook for our knight trading 3 points for 5 points, netting us +2
Nc5!
We have a battery lined up on h7. Qxh7 would be checkmate. We just need to get our knight out of the way first
Hanging pieces
Bxe7!
Should we capture the queen with the bishop or the rook?
Rxc5!
White is attacking the c5-pawn twice. Black is defending twice. However the queen is in the front and is too valuable to trade, therefore c5 is hanging
Rxd7!
The rook on d7 is defended once and attacked twice, counting like this will ensure you know when you can take something for free
Zugzwang
Rg8!
Rg8! Puts black into zugzwang (German for "compulsion to move") is a chess situation where a player is put at a disadvantage because they are forced to make a move, yet every possible move worsens their position
What tactic is used here?
Promotion
d8=Q!
White is one pawn ahead. If he plays 1.d8=Q, promoting the pawn to a Queen, then Black will capture the Queen. What should White play?
En passant
b4!
It is important to know all the rules of chess
What happens if white plays b4?
Stalemate
Ke6!
Black seems to have left his Bishop unguarded. What should White play?
What happens if the white queen captures the bishop?
Positions
Nxc7+!
This is one of the most classical forks that has happened in millions of games. We take c7 and check the black king and black rook, black loses the rook!
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