Pin in chess
A pinned piece cannot move without exposing something more valuable behind it - so it stops being a defender.
A pin is an attack by a bishop, rook or queen along a line where the enemy piece in front cannot move because a more valuable piece (or the king) stands behind it.
Absolute and relative pins
- Absolute pin - the king is behind. The pinned piece is legally unable to move at all. This is the strongest version: the pinned piece is, for the moment, not a piece at all.
- Relative pin - a queen or rook is behind. The pinned piece can move, but doing so loses material, so in practice it usually stays.
What to do with a pin
A pin is not a win by itself - it is a condition you exploit. The standard follow-up is to pile up on the pinned piece: attack it again with a pawn, a knight, another rook. Because it cannot run, every new attacker is a free gain.
The classic pattern is Bg5 pinning a knight on f6 against the queen on d8, followed by h3, g4 and g5, or by e4-e5 - the pinned knight has no way out and the attack does the rest.
Remember that a pinned defender is only pretending to defend. If a knight on f6 is pinned to the king, it is not guarding h5 or e4 or d5. Whole combinations run on this one fact.
Breaking a pin
Four standard ways out:
- Attack the pinning piece - often with a pawn (h6 and g5 against a Bg5 pin).
- Interpose a piece or pawn on the line between them.
- Move the piece behind out of the line, converting an absolute pin into nothing at all.
- Create a bigger threat elsewhere so the pin never gets exploited.
Practise the pin
Reading about a pattern is not the same as seeing it under time pressure. The puzzle trainer serves rated positions taken from real games, adjusting to your level as you solve - and any puzzle you get wrong opens on the full analysis board in one click, so you can find out exactly what you missed.
Related tactics
Skewer
A pin turned around: the valuable piece is in front, it must move, and the piece behind it falls.
Fork
One piece, two targets. The fork is the most common winning tactic in chess and the first one worth mastering.
Deflection
A piece is doing an important job. Give it something it cannot refuse, and the job goes undone.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pin in chess?
An attack along a line - rank, file or diagonal - where the attacked piece cannot move away without exposing a more valuable piece behind it. Only bishops, rooks and queens can pin.
Can a knight pin a piece?
No. A pin requires a line-moving piece: bishop, rook or queen. Knights and pawns can fork, but they cannot pin.
Can you capture a pinned piece with a pinned piece?
A piece under an absolute pin cannot capture, because moving it would expose its own king - the move is illegal. A relatively pinned piece can capture, and sometimes should, if the material it wins outweighs the piece behind it.