Basic Tactics

Tactics are the short, concrete sequences of moves that win material or deliver checkmate. Every game of chess at every level is decided by tactics. Learning to spot pins, forks, skewers, and discovered attacks transforms you from a passive piece-mover into a genuine chess player.

1. What is a tactic?

A tactic is a short sequence of moves — usually one to five moves deep — that forces a concrete advantage: winning material, delivering checkmate, or achieving a decisive positional gain. Tactics are different from strategy (long-term plans) because they are calculated, concrete, and forcing.

The vast majority of chess games at the beginner and intermediate level are decided not by deep strategic understanding, but by one player spotting a tactic and the other missing it. Learning the patterns below will immediately improve your results.

A pin occurs when an attacking piece threatens an enemy piece that cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it. The pinned piece is stuck — moving it would lose the piece behind it.

There are two types of pin. An absolute pin is when the piece behind the pinned piece is the King — the pinned piece literally cannot move because doing so would leave the King in check, which is illegal. A relative pin is when the piece behind is valuable but not the King — the pinned piece can move, but doing so would lose the piece behind it.

A fork is when one piece attacks two or more enemy pieces simultaneously. The opponent can only respond to one threat, so the other piece is captured for free. Any piece can deliver a fork — but the Knight is the most notorious forking piece because of its unusual movement.

A skewer is the reverse of a pin. Instead of a valuable piece hiding behind a less valuable one, the valuable piece is attacked directly — and when it moves, the less valuable piece behind it is captured. The enemy is forced to move the valuable piece out of danger, exposing the weaker piece.

Skewers are most commonly used against the King or Queen. A Rook skewering a King against a Rook behind it, or a Bishop skewering a Queen against a Rook, are classic examples.

A discovered attack occurs when a piece moves and reveals an attack by a piece behind it. The moving piece may itself make a threat, while simultaneously uncovering a second threat from the piece behind it. The opponent must often deal with both threats — and usually cannot.

A discovered check is especially powerful: the piece behind delivers check to the King, forcing a response, while the moving piece wreaks havoc elsewhere on the board.

A hanging piece is any piece that is attacked but not defended — it can simply be captured for free. The most basic tactical skill in chess is making sure none of your pieces are hanging, while looking for any enemy pieces that are undefended.

Before every move, ask: after I play this, does my opponent have a piece they can capture for free? And: does my opponent have any hanging pieces I can take right now?

Zugzwang (German: “compulsion to move”) is a situation where a player is not in check but every legal move worsens their position. The player would prefer to pass — but in chess, you must always make a move. Zugzwang is most common in the endgame, where every King or pawn move can be decisive.

8. How to spot tactics

Tactics don’t appear by magic — you find them by asking the right questions every single move. Here is the thinking process strong players use:

9. Quick quiz

Test your understanding of the fundamental tactics.