Trapped pieces
A piece is trapped when it is attacked, or about to be, and every square it could flee to is covered or blocked.
- 12 min
- 2 steps
- Lesson 11 of 132
In this lesson
- How to spot it
- Puzzles
Picking up where you left off.
How to spot it
A piece is trapped when it is attacked, or about to be, and every square it could flee to is covered or blocked. A trapped piece is usually lost even though it is not hanging yet.
The usual victims are pieces on the edge of the board and pieces deep in enemy territory: a knight on the rim, a bishop that grabbed a pawn on a7, a queen that went pawn-hunting on the queenside.
To spot a trap, count the escape squares of an enemy piece. If only one or two are left, look for a move that takes them away, often a pawn move that also attacks the piece. Then it falls on the next move.
Check what the doomed piece can still do. It may capture something on its way out (a desperado), so the net gain is sometimes a piece for a pawn or two rather than the whole piece.
Puzzles
Eight puzzles, rated 750 to 1650. A wrong move shows the engine’s refutation, and a missed puzzle comes back for review.
Lesson complete
Nice work.