Skewers

How to spot it

A skewer is a pin turned around. You attack a valuable piece, it has to move out of the way, and you capture the piece standing behind it on the same line. Most skewers start with a check: the king must step aside and leaves its rook or queen behind.

To spot one, look for two enemy pieces on the same file, rank or diagonal with the more valuable one in front: king and rook, king and queen, or queen and rook. Then look for a safe square on that line, preferably a protected one, from which your bishop, rook or queen can attack the front piece. This attack “through” the king is also called an x-ray.

Kings are frequent victims in the endgame, when they walk into the middle of the board next to their own rooks. In pawn races, a new queen that appears with check often skewers the king against the other queen.

Check the defence too: if your opponent can block the line, or the front piece can capture your attacker, the skewer may fail.

Puzzles

11 puzzles, rated 700 to 1700. A wrong move shows the engine’s refutation, and a missed puzzle comes back for review.