Pin
Pin
A Pin is a tactic in which a piece is attacked and cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it. In the diagram above, White can play 1.Bc3 and pin the f6-Knight to the h8-Rook. If the Knight moves, the Rook will be easily captured.
Ideas for when you have a strong Pin: (1) Keep the pressure on the pinned piece and limit your opponent's options, (2) Bring more attackers to the pinned piece, (3) Avoid exchanging pieces that relieve the pin, (4) Use the pin to gain material or another advantage. Ideas against a strong Pin: (1) Distract the pinning piece either by attacking it or counterattacking with checks/mating threats, (2) Move the piece behind the pin.
Designed with Love in Italy
Designed with Love in Italy
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Master the Pin
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 Pins. 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.
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Chess TACTICS for BEGINNERS | #1 Pins
A very clear and enjoyable introduction for beginners to the pin tactics by the growing Hannah Sayce YouTube channel.
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Chess Tactics Course for beginners Part 1 - Absolute Pin Level 1
This video is part of a much-detailed and well-thought-out series on tactics by ChessBase India. Don’t miss it.
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Essential Patterns For Success*
Watch this incredibly useful chess.com lesson by IM David Pruess and master one very specific yet very common pin: Bishop pinning Knight to Queen.
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Step 2 - Learning Chess - Manual
Volume 2 of the famous Steps Method by Rob Brunia & Cor van Wijgerden contains one of the most detailed and useful definitions of Pins. It’s all EXTREMELY well organized. We love this method.
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Steps 2 - Learning Chess - Workbook
The Steps Method is organized in six manuals and several workbooks. The Workbooks of Step 2 include Pins and many other basic tactics. Generally speaking, all these books are gold.