Basic Chess Tactics

As opposed to chess strategy, the overall plan of the game, chess tactics refer to a sequence or a combination of few moves designed to give the player an immediate, tangible advantage over the opponent. Many of the most valuable chess tactics (for example: forks, skewers and discovering attacks) consist of two moves: the first move threatens the opponent with two, simultaneous dangerous, so in the second move, which follows the opponent's response, the advantage is already carried out. This article focuses on the simplest, most basic, two-move chess tactics.

Discovered Attack

This chess tactic purposed to expose a potential threat by moving one piece out of the way of another piece. At the same time, the discovered attack can threaten the opponent and by that gain a tempo, i.e. arrive at the desirable result one move earlier than expected. In case of a discovered attack with capture, in which the moving piece captures an opponent's piece that was protected by another, the player (who can bring back the moving piece to a harmless place) can also gain material, i.e. notable pieces or pawns.

Fork

When a player tries to gain material by attacking two (or more) of the opponent's pieces using one piece, commonly a knight, due to its vast mobility or in rarer cases the queen, which on one hand can move any direction but on the other hand too valuable to risk, or a pawn, which in a single move forward can attack two of the opponent's pieces (on its diagonal right and left).

Skewer

Again, an attack performed by one of the players pieces (the queen, rook or bishop) on the opponent's two pieces, lined up so the more valuable piece is placed in front of the less valuable piece. Following this double threat tactic, the opponent's valuable piece is forced to move, exposing the less valuable piece to the player's capture.

Pin

Similar to skewer, this chess tactic involves a threat of one player's piece (bishop, rook or queen, meaning only pieces that can move any number of squares) on the opponent's line of pieces, except that in here the player's valuable piece, commonly the king, is threatened. The less valuable piece is incapable of moving to avoid exposure of the more valuable piece, thus called the pinned piece. Since it requires more maneuvering than other chess tactics, pinning often referred to as a chess strategy.

Undermining or Removal of Guards

A chess tactic in which a player captures the opponent's guarding piece, and as a result exposing the guarded piece. The opponent, then, is forced to choose between saving the guarded piece and capturing back the guard, or he/she might sacrifice that no longer guarded piece and dry to capture the player's capturing piece. Eventually, undermining often leads exchange of both players' pieces.