Rookie

Tactics

Relative Pins: Frozen by Fear, Not by Law

โ† All lessons

Not every pin is against the king. A piece lined up in front of its own QUEEN is pinned too, but only relatively: the rules allow it to move, it just usually shouldn't, because moving surrenders the queen behind it. The piece is frozen by consequences instead of legality.

You attack a relatively pinned piece exactly like an absolute one: pile on, cheapest attacker first. Just stay honest about the difference, since a relatively pinned piece CAN move if doing so creates a big enough threat, a check or a mate threat can be worth more than the queen behind it. Count before you assume it's stuck.

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The knight on f6 shields the queen on d8 from the bishop. It may move, but at a terrible price.

The knight doesn't dare move. Attack it with a pawn.

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