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The Pin - 01

A pin occurs when a piece cannot be moved without exposing a more valuable piece behind it to capture. There are different types of pins: - Relative pins involve a less valuable pinned piece - Absolute pins involve a piece pinned to the king - Cross pins occur when a piece is pinned from two directions - Partial pins allow some movement of the pinned piece - Situational pins are not obvious and require closer observation

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Viraj Darshana Gunarathna
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85 views6 pages

The Pin - 01

A pin occurs when a piece cannot be moved without exposing a more valuable piece behind it to capture. There are different types of pins: - Relative pins involve a less valuable pinned piece - Absolute pins involve a piece pinned to the king - Cross pins occur when a piece is pinned from two directions - Partial pins allow some movement of the pinned piece - Situational pins are not obvious and require closer observation

Uploaded by

Viraj Darshana Gunarathna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is a pin in chess?

 A piece is said to be pinned when it is attacked along a line from which it


cannot move without exposing a second, usually more valuable piece to attack.

 Pin tactics occur when an attacked piece cannot move without exposing an
even more valuable piece (or target) behind it.

There are a number of different variations of pin tactics


.
 Relative Pins

 Absolute Pins

 Cross Pins

 Partial Pins

 Situational Pins

Viraj Gunarathna (NI,NA) 0763753529 [email protected]


What is a relative pin?
 A relative pin is a when the value of a pinned piece is relatively lower than the
piece behind it

Black plays 1…. Bf6 and pins the white knight on c3. It is a relative pin because
moving the knight would expose the higher-valued rook on a1

In the case of a relative pin, the pinned piece could still freely move – but it’s usually
not a good idea because it would expose a relatively higher-valued piece behind it.

What is an absolute pin?


 In the case where a piece is pinned to the king, it is illegal for that piece to
leave the file or diagonal that it is pinned on, else this would leave the king in
check.

White plays 1.Bg3. This is an absolute pin on the black queen since it would be
illegal for her to leave the a2-g8 diagonal.
In other words, if a piece is pinned to their king it is referred to as an absolute pin

Viraj Gunarathna (NI,NA) 0763753529 [email protected]


What is a cross pin?
 When a piece is pinned from two directions, it is referred to as a cross-pin.

1.Bf4! Black’s bishop on e5 is pinned in 2 directions. On the e-file it is a relative pin,


but on the b8-h2 diagonal it is an absolute pin

An interesting observation (Partial pins)

 In many cases a pinned piece could actually still move along the rank or
diagonal it is pinned on.

The diagram illustrates that even though black’s queen is technically in an absolute
pin. She can still legally move on the b8-h2 diagonal.

When a pinned piece still has limited movement, such pin is referred to as a “partial
pin”.

Viraj Gunarathna (NI,NA) 0763753529 [email protected]


What is a situational pin?

 A situational pin is not obvious, that a piece is pinned. But a closer observation
will reveal that the piece is indirectly pinned. The example below will explain
the idea

Find the Pin

 Find a move to pin a piece, so it can be captured on the next move.

Viraj Gunarathna (NI,NA) 0763753529 [email protected]


 In these four positions, the next move will either pin a piece or attack a piece
which is already pinned.

 In these four positions, the player to move can make a capture because of a
pin.

Viraj Gunarathna (NI,NA) 0763753529 [email protected]


 In these four positions, how does the player to move use the pin to gain an
advantage?

Viraj Gunarathna (NI,NA) 0763753529 [email protected]

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