Pin (chess)

In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece. "To pin" refers to the action of the attacking piece inducing the pin, and the defending piece so restricted is described as pinned.

Only pieces that can move an indefinite number of squares in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, i.e., bishops, rooks and queens, can pin opposing pieces. Kings, knights, and pawns cannot pin. Any piece may be pinned except the king, as the king must be immediately removed from check under all circumstances.


Types

abcdefgh
8
b8 black rook
c8 black king
e6 black knight
f5 white bishop
b4 white knight
b1 white queen
d1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
There is an absolute pin on the black knight as moving it would illegally expose the black king to check from the white bishop.
There is a relative pin on the white knight as moving it would allow capture of the white queen by the black rook.
abcdefgh
8
e8 black king
b7 black pawn
e5 black queen
b2 white pawn
e1 white rook
f1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Since the black queen is pinned to the black king by the white rook, the queen cannot be moved off the e-file. This is an example of a partial pin.

Absolute pin

An absolute pin is one where the piece shielded by the pinned piece is the king. In this case it is illegal to move the pinned piece out of the line of attack, as that would place one's king in check.

Relative pin

A relative pin is one where the piece shielded by the pinned piece is a piece other than the king, but typically more valuable than the pinned piece. Moving such a pinned piece is legal, but may not be prudent as the shielded piece would then be vulnerable to capture. (See diagram at right.)

Partial pin

If a rook or queen is pinned along a file or rank, or a bishop or queen is pinned along a diagonal, the pin is a partial pin: the pinned unit can still move along its line but cannot leave that line. A partially pinned unit may break its own pin by capturing the pinning piece; however, a partial pin can still be advantageous to the pinning player, for instance if the queen is pinned by a rook or bishop, and the pinning piece is defended, so that capturing it with the queen would lose material. Note that a queen can only ever be partially pinned, as it can move in any linear direction.

It is possible for two opposing pieces to be partially pinning each other. It is also possible for one piece to be pinned in one direction (line of attack) and partially pinned in another, or otherwise pinned in two or more directions.

Situational pin

abcdefgh
8
b8 black rook
g8 black king
c7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
d6 black pawn
g6 black pawn
d5 black bishop
b4 white knight
c3 white pawn
e3 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
e1 white king
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White to move. White's knight should not capture the black bishop. This is an example of a situational pin.

Sometimes in a chess game position, a piece may be considered to be in a situational pin. In a situational pin, moving the pinned piece out of the line of attack will result in a situation detrimental to the player of the pinned piece, such as a checkmate. Although a situational pin is not an absolute pin and the pinned piece can still be moved according to the rules, moving out of line of attack can result in a bad situation or even immediate loss of the game.

Consider the chess position shown at right. The black bishop has just moved from e6 to d5, making itself unprotected and available for capture by the white knight on b4. It is now white's turn to move. White should not capture the black bishop or otherwise move the knight because after 1.Nxd5, 1...Rb1+ wins white's rook, because the king is forced to move away from the check, thereby exposing the rook to attack (a skewer).

Pin combinations

Pinning can also be used in combination with other tactics. For example, a piece can be pinned to prevent it from moving to attack, or a defending piece can be pinned as part of tactic undermining an opponent's defense.

A pinned piece can usually no longer be counted on as a defender of another friendly piece (that is out of the pinning line of attack) or as an attacker of an opposing piece (out of the pinning line). However, a pinned piece can still check the opposing king - and therefore still can defend friendly pieces against captures made by the enemy king.

Unpinning

The act of breaking a pin is unpinning. This can be executed in a number of ways: the piece creating the pin can be captured; another unit can be moved onto the line of the pin; or the unit to which a piece is pinned can be moved.

Although a pin is not a tactic in itself, it can be useful in tactical situations. One tactic which takes advantage of a pin can be called working the pin. In this tactic, other pieces from the pinning piece's side attack the opposing pinned piece. Since the pinned piece cannot move out of the line of attack, the pinned piece's player may move other pieces to defend the pinned piece, but the pinning player may yet attack with even more pieces, etc.

Pins commonly seen in game play

A pin that often occurs in openings is the move Bb5 which, if Black has moved ...Nc6 and ...d6 or ...d5, pins the knight on c6, because moving the knight would expose the king on e8 to check. (The same may, of course, occur on the other flank, with a bishop on g5, or by Black on White, with a bishop on b4 or g4.)

A common way to win the queen is to pin her to the king with a rook: for instance with the black queen on e5 and the black king on e8 and no other pieces on the e-file, the move Re1 by White would pin Black's queen.

Example of a pin in a real game

Lenin vs. Gorky in Capri, Italy in 1908
abcdefgh
8
g8 black king
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
d7 black knight
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
d6 black bishop
e6 white knight
d5 white pawn
f5 black pawn
b4 white pawn
c4 white pawn
e3 black rook
f3 white bishop
g3 black queen
h3 black rook
a2 white pawn
d2 white queen
g2 white pawn
a1 white rook
f1 white rook
g1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
27. White to move - White resigns

The white pawn on g2 cannot take the deadly black rook on h3 because that pawn is pinned by the black queen.

In the diagram at right with white to move next,[1][2] Black is threatening the following rook sacrifice leading to mate.

27...Rh1+
28.Kxh1 Qh2#

The pawn on g2 cannot take the rook on h3 because the queen on g3 is pinning the pawn with a vertical line of attack. The only move to prevent the above moves is 27.Nf4 which temporarily blocks black's bishop from protecting his queen, but to no avail. The black bishop can take the knight by 27...Bxf4 renewing the same threat of mate in 2, or Black can respond as follows to mate anyway:

27.Nf4 Qh2+
28.Kf2 Rhxf3#

In this case, white could not take the mating rook now on f3 with the g2 pawn because the queen on h2 would now be pinning the pawn with a horizontal line of attack. With mate against him being inevitable, white resigned after move 26.

Notes

See also

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.