Tactical motifsStep 4 of 7
The discovered attack
The front piece steps aside and does as it pleases while the piece behind gives check. And double check, against which there is no defence at all.
Two of your pieces line up with an enemy target. The front one steps aside — and the back one attacks, without having moved.
It is the most profitable motif in chess, because the piece that leaves can do whatever it likes. It can capture, it can threaten something else, it can go anywhere: meanwhile the piece behind is giving check. Your opponent cannot answer both.
Demonstration — use the arrows
Move list
Double check is the most violent form: the departing piece gives check too. Against a double check you can neither capture nor block — the king must move, whatever else is happening. It is the only motif in chess with no answer but flight.
It is exactly the mechanism behind Légal’s mate, which looks like a queen sacrifice and is really a discovery.
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