Did those songs you were hearing end? Would you like to hear them again?

The Skewer: I Bet You Can Picture What it is Already

The next tactic we'll take a look at is quite a cool one. It's called the skewer. It's been described as the reversed pin. I bet when you first heard the name you pictured a skewer going through a piece, well that's exactly what it is.

The skewer is defined as an attack on a valuable piece, causing it to move, which leaves a piece behind it under capture. An Example:

We see that the king is attacked in the above diagram, causing it to move, but when it moves, the white rook will be captured.

Another example:

White skewers black's king and queen. The king will move and the queen will be lost.

Now, a more advanced example:

The position shows that black already has a winning position, but there is a way to win even more material, to assure the win.

All the action seems to be along the f-file, particularily, h1. If black could place a rook on this rank, he could win a rook, the only problem is that the bishop guards this square. But does it guard it fully? Black attacks the square twice while white, only once. Would it be worth it to temporarily sacrifice the rook for bishop in order to achieve a fork? Of course!

After the moves 1. ... Rh1+! 2. Bxh1 Rxh1+ 3. K Moves Rxa1 black finds himself up more material.

Well, after viewing these examples you may now be thinking that you can only skewer a king. Not true! You can skewer any piece, as long as it fulfills the requirements of being a more valuable piece, etc. Now, it's test time! Don't ya love these? Again, Good luck!

WHITE: Cone, J
BLACK: Miller, S
DATE: 5.10.97
EVENT: Ontario High School Chess Championship
LAST MOVE: 31. Ke6

This concludes this portion of the tutorial.

lucky individuals have learned how to play better chess since this page hit the web on 06/28/97.