How to Teach Discovered Attacks

Short answer: Teach discovered attacks by splitting them into two pieces: a back piece that does the attacking, and a front piece that steps out of the way. Start with the front piece making a threat of its own, then add discovered check. Students improve once they habitually ask what is hiding behind their own piece.

Discovered attacks are one of the tactics students enjoy most once they click, and one of the ones they most often play badly. They spot the line they could open, move the blocking piece somewhere random, and miss that the same move could have attacked something too.

This post gives you a way to teach the theme in small steps, with a worked example, the mistakes to expect and some drills you can use straight away. It all comes down to teaching students to look behind their own pieces, and it sits inside our complete guide to teaching chess tactics.

What is a discovered attack?

A discovered attack happens when one of your pieces moves out of the way and reveals an attack from a long-range piece behind it. The long-range piece is a rook, bishop or queen. The piece that moves is called the front piece, and what makes the tactic strong is that the front piece can usually do something useful on its way out.

That gives the opponent two problems at once. They face the revealed attack and whatever the moving piece is doing. Most of the time they can only fix one, which is how material gets won.

Why do discovered attacks cause students trouble?

They cause trouble because the idea is invisible until you know to look for it. A fork or a pin is easy to see on the board, because the attacking piece is out in the open. In a discovered attack, the important line is hidden behind a piece the student sees as a friend or an obstacle.

Students also tend to think about one piece at a time. A discovered attack needs them to think about two pieces working together, and about a move that does two jobs. That is a bigger mental step than a simple fork, which is why it sits later in most teaching orders. If you want to see where it fits, our guide to what order to teach tactical themes in sets out one sequence.

How do you explain a discovered attack in one sentence?

Try this: "I move one of my pieces, and that opens a line for another of my pieces to attack." Then give the roles names so students have words to use. Every discovered attack has the same three parts:

If students can name the back piece, the front piece and the target, they understand the tactic. If they can only name one of them, they will find it hard to spot in a game.

In what order should you teach the variations?

Teach the plain version first and add one idea at a time. Each step leans on the one before, so students are never asked to jump. A sequence that works for many students:

1. The simple discovery. The front piece moves away and the revealed line attacks something. Keep the front piece's move unremarkable at this stage
2. The front piece makes a threat. Now the front piece attacks something too, so the opponent faces two threats
3. Discovered check. The target is the king. The opponent has to answer the check, which gives the front piece a free move to capture or threaten
4. Double check. Both the back piece and the front piece give check at the same time, and the king has to move
5. Unlabelled positions. Mixed puzzles where the student has to notice that a discovery exists at all

Spend longer on steps two and three than you think you need to. Those are where discovered attacks start winning games rather than just looking clever. If your students are still shaky on the simpler themes, it is worth checking they are comfortable with pins and skewers first, because those also rely on long-range pieces and lines.

What does a worked example look like?

Here is a made-up scenario you can set up on a board, described in words so you can place the pieces to suit your students. Say a student has a rook sitting behind their own knight on an open file. The rook points at the opponent's queen. The knight is also one jump away from attacking the opponent's other rook.

Ask the student to find the move. The knight jumps to the square where it attacks the rook, and that opens the file so the rook attacks the queen. The opponent now has two pieces under attack. They can usually only save one, so the student wins material, provided the knight can't simply be captured and no single reply deals with both threats.

Then ask three follow-up questions, which teach more than the answer does:

• Which piece was the back piece, and which was the front piece
• What would have happened if the knight had moved somewhere harmless
• What could the opponent have done one move earlier to stop it

The second question is the important one. It shows students that a discovered attack with a pointless front-piece move is worth much less than one where the front piece joins in. Once you've taught a few examples this way, change the target to the king and let them discover why discovered check is so powerful.

What mistakes do students make with discovered attacks?

Most mistakes fall into a few predictable groups, which makes them easy to coach. Listen for these when a student talks through a missed or misplayed discovery:

• Forgetting the front piece's job. They open the line but move the blocker to a square where it does nothing, so the opponent has an easy reply
• Not checking the line is really open. Another piece, theirs or the opponent's, still sits in the way
• Ignoring the reply. They don't ask what the opponent can do that handles both threats, such as capturing the front piece with check
• Overlooking the target. The back piece attacks something, but it is defended well enough that nothing is won
• Missing their own discoveries. They only see the tactic when it is labelled, not when it sits in a normal position

A good habit is to make students say the full idea aloud before they play: "This piece moves, which opens this line, and it attacks that." If any part is missing, the tactic usually has a hole. It also fits neatly with our post on why students keep missing tactics, since many of the causes there show up in discoveries too.

What drills help students spot discovered attacks?

Drills that train the question "what is behind my piece?" work best. Use a few of these in lessons and set the rest as practice:

• Line spotting. Show a position and ask the student to name every rook, bishop or queen with one of their own pieces in front of it
• Best blocker move. Fix a back piece and a target, then ask where the front piece should go to make the biggest extra threat
• Check or no check. Mix positions with and without a discovery, and have the student say which is which before solving
• Reverse it. Ask the student to build their own discovered attack from a few pieces, then swap boards with a partner
• Game review. Go through their own games and mark every moment when one of their pieces stood in front of a long-range piece

Keep each session on this one theme until students find the idea quickly, then mix it back in with the others. If you want a reminder of why finding the move beats watching it, our post on making tactics stick explains the retrieval practice idea (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006) in plain language.

How do students defend against discovered attacks?

They defend by noticing the same lines you've taught them to use. Before each move, a student should look at the opponent's long-range pieces and ask whether any of the opponent's own pieces stands in front of one. If so, that piece moving could uncover an attack.

Two practical habits help. First, be careful about leaving the king or queen on the same line as an opposing rook, bishop or queen, even with a piece in between. Second, before capturing or moving a piece, check what the opponent's front piece could do with a free move. Some students learn this best the hard way in a practice game, followed by a calm chat about what they would do next time.

FAQ

What is a discovered attack in chess?

A discovered attack happens when one piece moves out of the way and reveals an attack from a rook, bishop or queen behind it. The moving piece often makes its own threat as well, so the opponent faces two problems at once.

How is a discovered attack different from a pin or skewer?

In a pin or skewer, a long-range piece attacks along a line and the pieces on that line are stuck or forced to move. In a discovered attack, your own piece is blocking your line and moving it opens the attack. Ask the student which of their pieces is in the way.

What is the best way to teach discovered check?

Teach it after the plain discovered attack, because the idea is the same with the king as the target. Stress that the opponent must answer the check, which gives the moving piece a free move to make a threat or capture.

Why do students forget the moving piece's threat?

They focus on the line they have opened and treat the moving piece as an obstacle to remove. Ask them to say what the moving piece attacks from its new square before they play it, and make that a standing question in every discovery puzzle.

How many discovered attack puzzles should students do?

Use a steady daily amount on this one theme rather than occasional big sessions. The right number depends on the student's age and time, so start small, check how they're finding them, and build up. Careful attempts beat clicking through.

Can beginners learn discovered attacks?

Yes, once they know how the pieces move and can follow check and capture ideas. Begin with a simple example where one piece steps aside and attacks something, and leave double check and discovered checks until the basic idea is secure.

Where to go next

Read our complete guide to teaching chess tactics for the full structure, our guide to teaching forks for an easier theme to build from, and our complete guide to chess homework for students for setting practice between lessons. When you want a ready-made year of tactics practice, see Chess Tactics Mastery: Coach Edition.