Attacking motifs
Pin in chess
By Antoine TamanoUpdated
A pin in chess holds a piece in place: it cannot move, or should not, because a more valuable piece sits behind it on the line.
A pin is a line attack, by a bishop, a rook or a queen, on a piece that has something more valuable behind it on the same line. If the piece behind is the king, the pin is absolute: the pinned piece cannot legally leave the line. If it is a queen or a rook, the pin is relative: the pinned piece may move, at the price of what stands behind it.
What makes a pin WORK is that the pinned piece has lost its moves and, with them, its duties. A pinned pawn does not capture; a pinned knight does not defend; a pinned rook cannot run when attacked. So the pin is rarely the end of the tactic. It is what makes the next move possible: a knight lands on a square the pinned pawn is supposed to cover, a queen steps to a square the pinned bishop is supposed to guard, a bishop attacks the pinned piece once more and wins it.
How to spot it: two enemy pieces on the same line, the more valuable one behind, and one of your line pieces able to reach that line. A king and a queen on the same diagonal; a king on g8, a knight on f6 and a bishop coming to g5; a rook on d8 behind a pawn on d6. Then count: how many times can you attack the pinned piece, and how many times can it be defended?
At higher level the pin hides. It appears after a pawn move opens a diagonal, after an exchange clears a file, after a sacrifice drags a piece onto the line. And a pin can be a trap for the pinner: a piece pinned to a queen may move anyway if what it does is worth more than the queen. Check every pin twice, from both sides.
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Questions
What is a pin in chess?
A pin is an attack along a line where the piece being attacked cannot move without exposing something more valuable behind it. Only the queen, rook and bishop can pin, because only they attack along lines. The pinned piece is not captured yet; it is stuck, which is often worth more.
What is the difference between an absolute and a relative pin?
In an absolute pin the piece behind is the king, so the pinned piece is not allowed to move at all: the rules forbid it. In a relative pin the piece behind is merely valuable, usually the queen or a rook, so moving is legal but expensive. A relative pin can be broken at a price; an absolute one cannot be broken at any price.
How do you attack a pinned piece?
Pile on it. A pinned piece cannot move away, so every extra attacker you bring to its square is worth more than usual, and a pawn is the cheapest attacker of all. The standard method is to add a second attacker the defender cannot match, and win the piece where it stands.
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