A Discovered Attack is a tactic in which moving one piece reveals an attack by another piece behind it, often creating a powerful and unexpected threat. In the diagram above, White can play 1.Bh7+ opening the d-file for the Rook. Black is forced to deal with the check, and White can capture the black Queen on the next move.
When delivering a Discovered Attack: (1) Consider the timing and the sequence of moves to maximize the effectiveness of your attack. Against a Discovered Attack: (1) Move any vulnerable pieces out of the lines of attack.
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When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on Discovered Attacks. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this tactical pattern.
This collection of tactical ideas (Discovered Attacks included) by the excellent Chess Vibes YouTube channel is engaging and rich with examples. If you are an intermediate player, don’t skip it.
If you are serious about your chess tactics and hard work does not scare you, this book by Michael de la Maza is a very powerful resource. Have a look at its very structured program of “vision drills”.
A very rich and detailed collection of not-so-easy tactical exercises, all taken from recent games. This is the first volume of a very successful series by FM Carsten Hansen.
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