Most chess games are decided by a small number of tactics: forks, pins, skewers, discovered attacks, trapped pieces, and back-rank mates. If you can spot these patterns again, you'll start winning pieces and avoiding losing them. Here's a plain-English refresher on each, plus the best way to practice.
This is part of our complete guide to returning to chess after decades away.
What is a tactic?
A tactic is a short sequence of moves that wins material or checkmates. They're the tricks that decide most games at this level. The good news is that there are only a handful, and you've almost certainly seen them all before.
Forks
A fork is when one piece attacks two (or more) enemy pieces at once. Your opponent can only save one, so you win the other.
What to look for: Knights love forks, because they attack in an "L" shape and it's easy to miss what they hit. Keep an eye out for a knight check that also attacks a rook or queen. A pawn can fork too, by attacking two pieces diagonally.
Pins
A pin is when a piece can't move without exposing something more valuable behind it. If a bishop pins a knight to the king, the knight isn't allowed to move at all. If it's pinned to a queen, it can move, but you'd win the queen.
What to look for: Long-range pieces (bishops, rooks, and queens) on a line with two enemy pieces, where the one behind is worth more.
Skewers
A skewer is the reverse of a pin. You attack a big piece, it has to move, and you capture the piece behind it. A rook checking a king along a rank, with a queen further along the same line, is a classic example.
What to look for: A king or queen in line with another piece along a file, rank, or diagonal.
Discovered attacks
A discovered attack happens when you move one piece and reveal an attack by another. The best ones create two threats at once: the piece that moved attacks something, and the piece uncovered attacks something else.
What to look for: Your own pieces standing in front of your bishops, rooks, or queen. Moving the front piece with a threat can win material.
Trapped pieces
Sometimes a piece wanders into a spot where every escape square is covered. You can win it by attacking it. Equally, make sure your own pieces always have somewhere to go.
Back-rank mate
If your king is stuck behind its own pawns on the back row, a rook or queen landing on that row can be checkmate. Make a little space for your king, and always check your back row. We cover it as Question 1 in the four-question check.
The habit that finds tactics: checks, captures, threats
When you look at a position, ask three things in order: What checks can I give? What captures can I make? What threats can I create? Forcing moves limit your opponent's choices, which makes tactics easier to find. Do the same for your opponent before each of your moves.
How to practice
- Do a few puzzles a day. Most returning players find them the most enjoyable way to rebuild skill
- Do puzzles by theme at first (forks one day, pins another), then mix them up, since in real games nobody tells you the theme
- Don't rush. Take your time and look for the answer before checking
- Write down the patterns you miss, and come back to them a few days later
Ready to see how quickly it comes back? See how long it takes to get good at chess again.
Build it into a plan
Week 2 of Back To Chess: The 30-Day Comeback Plan goes through exactly these tactics, with 42 puzzles across the plan and full answers. It's £3.47, with no subscription and no pressure.
For a year of daily tactics later on, see Chess Tactics Mastery. Or take the free Chess Openings Quiz to find your next opening.
