Removing the defender

How to spot it

Every protected piece and every protected square depends on its guards. Remove the guard and whatever it protected falls. You can capture the defender, exchange it off, chase it away with a pawn, or give it a second job it cannot do.

To spot it, start with the target: what stops me from taking that piece, or from mating on that square? Usually the answer is a single piece. Then look for a way to capture, exchange or attack that piece.

An overloaded piece is a defender with two jobs. Capture one of the things it guards; if it recaptures, its other job is abandoned.

Remove the defender with tempo when you can. Capturing it with check, or with a mate threat, leaves your opponent no time to bring in a new defender.

Puzzles

Ten puzzles, rated 700 to 1750. A wrong move shows the engine’s refutation, and a missed puzzle comes back for review.