The game may seem to a beginner chess player as an endless maze of moves, but progress is based on a solid foundation of tactics. Among the most powerful and common tactical motivations are the pin, the fork, and the skewer. These are not tricks; these are simple weapons that allow you to win material, disrupt your opponent’s position, and gain the initiative. Learning the three tactical motifs is a crucial step in the journey of a beginner to become a great chess player.
The Fork: The double-edged sword
A fork occurs when a piece attacks two or more pieces of an opponent at once. This puts your opponent between a rock and a hard place, since there is only one piece that is to be saved from among the attacking pieces. The most common and damaging fork is formed by a knight due to its L-shaped move. A knight can jump over intervening pieces to advance to a position that attacks the enemy queen and king simultaneously, or a rook and a bishop. The strength in the fork lies in its simplicity and might. To utilize it effectively, you must practice board vision. Always keep an eye on a square where one of your pieces can capture two of your opponent’s pieces at the same time, especially if they are not defended.
The white knight on c3 can move to e2, checking the black king on f4 and attacking the black rook on g1 simultaneously. Black will need to move the king to safety, and the rook will have to be taken in the next move.
The pin: inmobilize and conquer
A pin is a tactic in which an attacking piece that has a great attack range like a rook, bishop, or queen prevents the movement of a defending piece because behind it is a more valuable piece. There are two types of pins: absolute and relative. In an absolute pin, the pinned piece cannot move legally because otherwise, the king will be in check. In a pin, the piece you are pinning is not free to move, but to move it would expose a more valuable piece, such as a queen or rook, to capture. A pin is so much of an effective strategem because it pins down a valuable opponent piece, so it cannot be used to defend or attack. Once a piece is pinned, you can apply additional pressure on it with other pieces, typically gaining extra material.
In some openings, a white bishop on g5 pins a black knight on f6 to the black queen on d8. Black cannot move the knight to another square without losing the queen, and thus they are forced to eliminate the threat by getting out of the way of the pin or moving the queen.
The skewer: The pin’s reverse sibling
The skewer is the opposite of the pin, and in a way, it is even more powerful. With a skewer, a remote piece attacks a more valuable piece that has a less valuable piece in front of it. The more valuable piece has to shift, leaving the less valuable piece in the open for capture. This forced retreat is the reason why the skewer is so lethal. The king and the queen are privileged targets, as their immense value forces a reply that exposes a less valuable piece to attack. The skewer transforms your adversary’s defensive move into a disadvantage and frequently delivers rapid and material victory.
In the diagram below, there is a white rook on a1 and a black king on a8 with a black rook on a7. White can move their rook to a8, skewering the black rook and the king. The black king must move to avoid check, and the white rook can capture the black rook on the next move.
Forks, pins, and skewers are not tricks in a vacuum. The real magic happens when you start combining them. A pin can result in a killer skewer, or a check that moves a king out of its path might result in a killer fork. Through being constantly on the lookout for alignments of pieces by opponents on the same rank, file, or diagonal, you will start to look for these opportunities in your games. Practice solving tactical puzzles so your eyes become trained to recognize these patterns. That first major tactical victory on the board is going to be like breaking a new level of understanding, and with these three tools in your arsenal, you’ll be on your way to becoming a master at the game.