Hanging piece

A hanging piece is a piece nobody defends. Most decisive moves below 1500 are not combinations: they are captures of a piece the opponent forgot, one move after it stopped being defended. Loose pieces drop off, and the player who checks for them after EVERY move picks up a piece a game.

What makes it work is the count. A piece attacked once and defended by nothing is won outright; attacked twice and defended once, it is won too, but only if you capture with the right piece first. So before every capture: how many attackers, how many defenders, and what does my capturing piece leave behind when it goes?

The way to spot one is to ask, after each opponent move, what that move stopped defending. A queen retreat, a castle, a recapture: each one moves a defender away from something. Scan for pieces with no defender, then for a move that attacks two of them at once, or attacks one with check so there is no time to save it.

At higher level the hanging piece is rarely available in one move. It is the second move: a check first, an in-between capture, a trade that removes the defender. The order of captures is the whole skill. When two captures are available, the one with check goes first, because the other one is still there afterwards.