Lessons
Champion Tactics with GM Wolff - Pins and Skewers

Champion Tactics with GM Wolff - Pins and Skewers

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Are your ready for a tactical workout?

Grandmaster and two-time US Champion, Patrick Wolff, has hand-picked a series of pin and skewer puzzles. Pins and skewers are two ways that the "long-range" pieces (the bishop, the rook, and the queen) can attack two or more pieces simultaneously along the same rank, file, or diagonal. This is another basic tactical tool that is easy to understand and critical to master. Start using pins and skewers like a champion today!

Here is what you will learn:

  • How to set up pins and skewers!
  • How to avoid pins and skewers!
  • How to win material with devastating pins and skewers!

Lesson 1

Black has an extra pawn, but white can force the win of black's queen in just two moves using a pin. Do you see how?
2 Challenges

Lesson 2

It looks like Black has everything protected, doesn't it? But actually, White can win material immediately using the various pins in the position. Do you see how?
3 Challenges

Lesson 3

The material is equal here but Black can create a nice tactic due to the White pieces being in vulnerable positions. Can you find the winning path?
3 Challenges

Lesson 4

White has an extra pawn, but Black can quickly gain a decisive material advantage by exploiting all the pins in the position. How?
2 Challenges

Lesson 5

White's position certainly does look desperate, doesn't it? Although White has a material advantage, Black threatens mate in one move on f2, and it's hard to see a defense.
3 Challenges

Lesson 6

Black has just played his Bishop to b5, attacking the Rook on f1. Black expects White to move the Rook out of the attack. Does White have a better move?
4 Challenges

Lesson 7

Black has an extra pawn, but White has a potentially powerful pin against Black's Knight. How can White turn this pin into a win?
3 Challenges

Lesson 8

Does this position remind you of Exercise 7? It looks similar, but it uses an entirely different theme. One thing is true, though: White still needs to exploit a pin.
3 Challenges

Lesson 9

Nobody is in a pin yet, but if Black could set one up, maybe he could find a way to take advantage of it...
3 Challenges

Lesson 10

Black just moved the Rook to f8, hoping to exchange Rooks and reach an even position. But in fact this was a blunder. How can White use a pin to win material?
3 Challenges

Lesson 11

It looks like the only one suffering from a pin is White. But it turns out that White can turn the tables by using the power of the Rooks on the c-file. A key part of the solution uses the theme of DEFLECTION.
4 Challenges

Lesson 12

Here's a tricky one! Although Black is up a pawn, it looks like Black must lose material because the Queen and Rook are forked. But it's not so simple...
3 Challenges

Lesson 13

This looks a lot like Exercise 11. How can White win material using a pin here? And if you already solved Exercise 11, are there any important differences here to take account of?
3 Challenges

Lesson 14

It seems that Black has an extra pawn here but the piece placement makes all the difference. Do you see how White takes advantage of the bad piece placement of Black?
3 Challenges

Lesson 15

This looks like a pretty innocuous position, right? But White's King is a little hemmed in a little which allows for a nice tactic.
3 Challenges

Lesson 16

Here's a tricky exercise that uses three themes to win material: PIN, FORK, and SKEWER.
3 Challenges

Lesson 17

Black has two minor pieces for White's Rook and pawn, a roughly even position. But White can win material by setting up a skewer or a fork (depending on how Black responds). Do you see how?
3 Challenges

Lesson 18

Normally it's good to have two Bishops in an open position (one where the diagonals are not blocked by pawns). But here the Bishops and Queen are lined up on one file.
3 Challenges

Lesson 19

Pins and skewers can be combined with attacking the King, too. The pin of the Queen against the King may not look very productive for White.
2 Challenges

Lesson 20

Black's situation looks desperate, but in fact black has an amazing move that turns the tables! And yes, it uses both the pin and the skewer...
2 Challenges

Lesson 21

We can imagine black licking his chops here: Once white moves the Queen, Black will cement the Knight into the strong d3 square by pushing the pawn to c4.
3 Challenges

Lesson 22

White can win a piece with a deadly pin in conjunction with a devilish fork. Do you see how?
2 Challenges

Lesson 23

In this innocent position white has a tricky move that wins material by setting up a pin. Do you see it?
3 Challenges

Lesson 24

Black would like to exploit the pin of the Knight on d2 by the Bishop on b4, but the Knight looks solidly defended. Plus Black is in his own pin. How can Black overcome both these hurdles to win material?
4 Challenges

Lesson 25

White can force the opponent to surrender major material on the very next turn. How?
2 Challenges

Lesson 26

Here White wins material not exactly by a pin but by the THREAT of a pin.
3 Challenges

Lesson 27

White's Rook attacks Black's Queen, which cannot move lest white play Qxb4 . However, Black can use the tactical power of a pin to institute a winning counterattack.
4 Challenges

Lesson 28

Black has a way to checkmate the White King in 4 moves! Can you find it?
4 Challenges

Lesson 29

This exercise will test your alertness to counterattacking possibilities. White just played Nxe6, forking your Queen and Rook.
3 Challenges

Lesson 30

It looks like black actually has the material advantage but White has some very strong pins in store to take total control.
3 Challenges

Lesson 31

Black is up an exchange here but White can take advantage of the Black King position. Do you see how to proceed?
4 Challenges

Lesson 32

White threatens checkmate by Qd7 followed by Qd8 but it's Black's turn to move. Make the most of it!
2 Challenges

Lesson 33

White just captured a pawn, Bc2xa4. Was that a good idea?
2 Challenges

Lesson 34

Believe it or not, but the Black knight at e7 will fall victim to a pinning attack very shortly. Show how.
4 Challenges

Lesson 35

Does black take a2? Or defend the passed h-pawn (Rh2)? Or is there something else?
2 Challenges

Lesson 36

White has just played Qxh6, threatening mate, relying of course on the fact that Black's g-pawn is pinned. Must Black accept that he has lost a pawn?
2 Challenges

Lesson 37

White has sacrificed a piece and stands to lose even more in view of the forking Knight. However, there is a way that White can exploit the weak dark squares.
2 Challenges

Lesson 38

Think carefully. There are a couple factors here: Fork and Skewer. How can Black win White's Queen?
3 Challenges

Lesson 39

Black played ...Ra2+, then white retreated Rc7-c2. What happens next?
2 Challenges

Lesson 40

Surprisingly perhaps, the decisive factor here is that White's Queen is undefended. Can you see why?
4 Challenges

Lesson 41

Material is even but Black has a way to set up a winning skewer. Do you see it?
4 Challenges

Lesson 42

Show how the undefended Queen is a decisive flaw in Black's position.
4 Challenges

Lesson 43

For this exercise the problem is not so much what to play as what NOT to play.
3 Challenges

Lesson 44

White's major pieces on the 7th rank look very menacing but in fact White has left the rear exposed. How can Black exploit this?
2 Challenges

Lesson 45

A piece that is pinned against its King literally has no legal move if moving exposes the King to check.
3 Challenges

Lesson 46

If a piece is pinned in two directions at once we speak of a "cross-pin." Cross-pins imply great tactical pressure, and often they gives rise to surprising and beautiful moves.
3 Challenges

Lesson 47

In this difficult and rather involved exercise white wins by a combination that culminates in a brutal "cross-pin" (a Black piece is pinned in two directions at once).
4 Challenges

Lesson 48

Black can make a short term investment to gain material.
2 Challenges

Lesson 49

Is e4 strong or weak? Find a move that proves your answer.
3 Challenges

Lesson 50

The pressure on b7 combined with the awkward task that faces Black in trying to maneuver in tight quarters on the queenside is enough for White to bring about an immediate gain.
4 Challenges

Lesson 51

Find a simplifying combination that assures Black a chance for safe exploitation of the material advantage.
3 Challenges

Lesson 52

White has two Rooks for the queen but Bd5 menaces very strongly. Can the position be saved?
3 Challenges

Champion Tactics with GM Wolff - Pins and Skewers

Tactics
52 Lessons
No Videos
154 Challenges
Released 3/13/2008

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