The pin

Absolute pins, relative pins, and the real profit: a pinned piece is a bad defender.

A pinned piece is a piece that cannot move, because something more valuable stands behind it.

Absolute pin: the king is behind. The piece cannot move — that is the rule, not advice. It is dead where it stands for as long as the pin lasts.

Relative pin: a queen or rook is behind. The piece can move, but it would be a disaster. A strong player will sometimes break a relative pin deliberately, if the gain is worth it.

Demonstration — use the arrows

Move list

Start

The absolute pin. The bishop on b5 pins the c6 knight against the king on e8. That knight defends nothing any more: if it moves the king is in check, so it cannot move.

Watch out for a very common mistake: a bishop on b5 facing a knight on c6 pins nothing at all while the black pawn is still on d7. The diagonal between the pinned piece and the king has to be clear. Here Black has played …d6, and the pin is real.

What this teaches you: a pinned piece is not merely stuck, it is a bad defender. If that knight was guarding something, it is not really guarding it any more. That is the real profit of a pin: attack whatever the pinned piece is supposed to protect.

Your turn

White to move

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Play your move on the board: drag a piece, or tap it and then tap its destination square.

Pin the knight.