Chess tactics
Pin in Chess: Restrict a Piece on a Line
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A pin occurs when a bishop, rook, or queen attacks a piece that screens a king or a more valuable target on the same line. A pin restricts the screening piece, but does not necessarily freeze it: some moves along the pin line remain legal, and capturing the pinning piece may break the pin.
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Pin: what it is and how it works
A pin needs a line-moving attacker, a screening enemy piece, and a target behind it. If the rear piece is the king, the pin is absolute: no move may leave that king in check. A knight therefore cannot move away, but a rook, bishop, queen, or pawn may sometimes move along the line while continuing to shield the king, or capture the pinning piece if the resulting position is legal. In a relative pin, moving is legal and may even be best if the tactics justify exposing the rear piece.
A pinned piece can still influence the position. Under the Laws of Chess, it continues to attack its normal squares even when it cannot legally move there; this matters when deciding where a king may move. For other tactical purposes, ask about the exact move: can the piece legally capture, block, or move along the line? Adding pressure to a pinned piece can win it, but only after checking counterattacks, interpositions, and ways to remove the pin.
How to spot it over the board
- Look for enemy pieces lined up with their king or queen on one rank, file, or diagonal — that is a pin you may be able to create.
- A pinned knight may be unable to make a legal capture; verify the king line before treating its defender role as ineffective.
- Look for a pawn attack on a pinned piece, then check whether the piece can move along the line, take the pinning piece, or allow the rear target to be exchanged.
- Before relying on a pinned defender, distinguish the squares it attacks from the moves it can legally make.
A common calculation error
Treating every pinned piece as if it were off the board creates errors of its own. A pinned piece still attacks squares, may have legal moves along the line, and may be able to capture the pinning piece. Calculate the particular move you need. With a relative pin, compare the material and initiative after the screening piece moves; exposing the rear target can be an acceptable or even favourable trade.
How hard are these puzzles?
This collection contains 47 pin puzzles, with a recorded median rating of 1621 and a dataset range from 920 to 2253. Puzzle ratings are estimates produced by results in their source pool; they can change and should be read as a guide for choosing practice, not as an objective measure of difficulty.
- Puzzles tagged
- 47
- Lowest recorded rating
- 920
- Recorded median
- 1621
- Highest recorded rating
- 2253
Pin puzzles to solve
These positions come from the LibreChess trainer and are ordered by the rating stored in this dataset. Play your candidate move on the board, then compare it with the listed solution and replay the continuation.
Worked example 1 — rated 920
White to move. Find the pin, then reveal the solution.
40. Rxf7 40... Rd1+ 41. Ka2 41... Qxf7+ 42. Qxf7+Worked example 2 — rated 1386
White to move. Find the pin, then reveal the solution.
27. Rxc8+ 27... Rd8 28. Qxd2Worked example 3 — rated 1621
White to move. Find the pin, then reveal the solution.
26. Be5 26... f6 27. Bxf6 27... Re7 28. Bxe7Worked example 4 — rated 1838
Black to move. Find the pin, then reveal the solution.
25... Nc3+ 26. bxc3 26... Rb8Worked example 5 — rated 2253
White to move. Find the pin, then reveal the solution.
29. Qg4 29... Re6 30. Rxh6 30... Qxh6 31. Rxh6Keep training by rating
Choose a rating band as a starting point. If the positions are routinely immediate or opaque, move one band up or down; puzzle ratings are pool estimates rather than fixed grades.