The Skewer

Hello everyone !

This is my third lesson about well-known tactical patterns. We have already studied the pin together. Our following lesson is about the skewer, and as usual, all screenshots are taken from Chess Trainer.

A skewer is very similar to a pin. The only difference is that the piece of greater value is now in front.
The opponent is forced to capture the more valuable piece away to avoid its capture, thereby exposing the less valuable piece, which can be captured.

As usual, we start with an example:

Here are a typical series of moves that could follow:

1... Qd8
Of course, Black has to move the Queen away
2. Bxh8
And White wins the exchange !


Try to find the skewer (this is the first exercise, not so hard):

And here is the answer:

1. Rh7+
In this configuration, the King is the most important piece, and the Queen is behind
1... Kf8
only move
2. Rxc7
White is now one full queen ahead !


Now let's look at a (much) harder example. Try to find the right move for White. The only clue is that a skewer is involved somewhere in the process !

And the answer is:

1. Be5
a skewer, or is it a deflection move maybe ?

1... Kxe5
Any other move and White captures the Queen right away

2. Qc3+
And now comes the real skewer !
2... Ke6
Black is helpless
3. Qxg7


As a conclusion, the skewer is the opposite of a pin, and a very powerful tactical weapon that can sometimes be prepared with an adequate piece sacrifice.

This concludes our lesson on the skewer.
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