Attacking motifs
Clearance
By Antoine TamanoUpdated
A piece vacates a square or a line, often with tempo, so another piece can use it.
A clearance is a move that gets one of your OWN pieces out of the way, so that another piece can use the square or the line it was blocking. A knight standing on the diagonal between your bishop and the enemy king; a rook sitting on the very square your queen needs for mate. The combination is already there; your piece is the only thing stopping it.
What makes a clearance WORK is tempo. If the vacating move gives check or makes a capture, the opponent must answer it and gets no move to repair the line you opened. Move the knight quietly and the king runs; move it with check and the mate lands next move. So the clearing piece is often thrown away: its job was to leave, loudly.
The way to spot one is to look for a battery that does not fire. Queen and bishop on the same diagonal aimed at h7, and a knight in between; queen on the h-file wanting h7, and a rook on it. Then ask where the blocking piece can go with check or with a capture. Two kinds to name: line clearance opens a file or a diagonal; square clearance hands over a single square.
Above 1600 the clearing move costs a rook or a queen, and the opponent has more than one way to take it. The clearance is sound only if every capture leaves the line open; check each one before you play the first move.
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