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Pin (chess) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pin (chess)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without
exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece. "To pin" refers to the
action of the attacking piece inducing the pin, and the defending piece so restricted is described as pinned.
Only pieces that can move an indefinite number of squares in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, i.e., bishops,
rooks and queens, can pin opposing pieces. Kings, knights, and pawns cannot pin. Any piece may be pinned
except the king, as the king must be immediately removed from check under all circumstances.

Contents
1 Types
1.1 Example of pin in real game
2 Notes
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Types
An absolute pin is one where the piece shielded by the pinned piece is the king. In this case it is illegal to move the
pinned piece out of the line of attack, as that would place one's king in check. A relative pin is one where the
piece shielded by the pinned piece is a piece other than the king, but typically more valuable than the pinned piece.
Moving such a pinned piece is legal, but may not be prudent as the shielded piece would then be vulnerable to
capture. (See diagram at right.)
If a rook or queen is pinned along a file or rank, or a bishop or queen is pinned along a diagonal, the pin is a partial
pin: the pinned unit can still move along its line but cannot leave that line. A partially pinned unit may break its own
pin by capturing the pinning piece; however, a partial pin can still be advantageous to the pinning player, for instance
if the queen is pinned by a rook or bishop, and the pinning piece is defended, so that capturing it with the queen
would lose material. Note that a queen can only ever be partially pinned, as it can move in any linear direction.
It is possible for two opposing pieces to be partially pinning each other. It is also possible for one piece to be
pinned in one direction (line of attack) and partially pinned in another, or otherwise pinned in two or more
directions.
The act of breaking a pin is unpinning. This can be executed in a number of ways: the piece creating the pin can be
captured; another unit can be moved onto the line of the pin; or the unit to which a piece is pinned can be moved.
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Although a pin is not a tactic in itself, it can be useful in tactical

situations. One tactic which takes advantage of a pin can be called
working the pin. In this tactic, other pieces from the pinning piece's
side attack the opposing pinned piece. Since the pinned piece cannot
move out of the line of attack, the pinned piece's player may move
other pieces to defend the pinned piece, but the pinning player may
yet attack with even more pieces, etc. Pinning can also be used in
combination with other tactics. For example, a piece can be pinned
to prevent it from moving to attack, or a defending piece can be
pinned as part of tactic undermining an opponent's defense. A pinned
piece can usually no longer be counted on as a defender of another
friendly piece (that is out of the pinning line of attack) or as an
attacker of an opposing piece (out of the pinning line). However, a
pinned piece can still check the opposing king - and therefore still can
defend friendly pieces against captures made by the enemy king.
A pin that often occurs in openings is the move Bb5 which, if Black
has moved ...Nc6 and ...d6 or ...d5, pins the knight on c6, because
moving the knight would expose the king on e8 to check. (The same
may, of course, occur on the other flank, with a bishop on g5, or by
Black on White, with a bishop on b4 or g4.) A common way to win
the queen is to pin her to the king with a rook: for instance with the
black queen on e5 and the black king on e8 and no other pieces on
the e-file, the move Re1 by White would pin Black's queen.

1
a

There is an absolute pin on the black

knight as moving it would illegally expose
the black king to check from the white
bishop.
There is a relative pin on the white
knight as moving it would allow capture
of the white queen by the black rook.

27...Rh1+

28.Kxh1 Qh2#

Example of pin in real game

In the diagram at right with white to move next,[1][2] Black is
threatening the following rook sacrifice leading to mate.

The pawn on g2 cannot take the rook on h3 because the queen on

g3 is pinning the pawn with a vertical line of attack. The only move to
prevent the above moves is 27.Nf4 which temporarily blocks black's
bishop from protecting his queen, but to no avail. The black bishop
can take the knight by 27...Bxf4 renewing the same threat of mate in
2, or Black can respond as follows to mate anyway:

Since the black queen is pinned to the

black king by the white rook, the queen
cannot be moved off the e-file. This is an
example of a partial pin.

27.Nf4 Qh2+
28.Kf2 Rhxf3#
In this case, white could not take the mating rook now on f3 with the g2 pawn because the queen on h2 would now
be pinning the pawn with a horizontal line of attack. With mate against him being inevitable, white resigned after
move 26.
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Lenin vs. Gorky in Capri, Italy in 1908

a

1
a

27. White to move - White resigns

The white pawn on g2 cannot take the
deadly black rook on h3 because that
pawn is pinned by the black queen.

Sometimes in a chess game position, a piece may be considered to

be in a situational pin. In a situational pin, moving the pinned piece
out of the line of attack will result in a situation detrimental to the
player of the pinned piece, such as a checkmate. Although a
situational pin is not an absolute pin and the pinned piece can still be
moved according to the rules, moving out of line of attack can result
in a bad situation or even immediate loss of the game.
Consider the chess position shown at right. White has not castled or
moved the king or rook yet. The black bishop has just moved from
e6 to d5, making itself unprotected and available for capture by the
white knight on b4. It is now white's turn to move. White should not
capture the black bishop because after 1.Nxd5, 1...Rb1+ wins
white's rook, because the king is forced to move away from the
check, thereby exposing the rook to attack (a skewer).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pin_(chess)

1
a

White to move. White's knight should not

capture the black bishop. This is an
example of a situational pin.

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Notes
1. Chess games played by Communists (http://budchess.sweb.cz/s&p.htm)
2. Lenin vs. Gorky (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1387603)

See also
Chess terminology
Chess tactics
Skewer (chess)

References
Golombek, Harry (1977), Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess, Crown Publishing, ISBN 0-517-53146-1
Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.), Oxford University
Press, ISBN 0-19-866164-9

External links
Chess Tactics Repository - Pins (http://www.chesstr.com/problems?ta=2) - Collection of chess problems
involving pins
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Categories: Chess tactics Chess terminology
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