A question and answer column by FIDE Master Andy Lee.
Q: What is the most important thing for a beginning chess player to master?
-- Quentin, Jefferson, MS
We will continue (click here for part 1) our answer to this question this week by examining the three rules of tactics:
1) Undefended or poorly defended pieces
2) Pieces that are trapped or have poor mobility
3) A king that is exposed to check (or checkmate!)
The first rule means that we should examine pieces that have zero defenders or pieces that have the same number of defenders as attackers. For example, in the diagram below, the black rook is attacked once and defended once. Therefore, it should not surprise us that white has a good way to win it with a tactic.
Notice that this tactic was also made possible by the third rule: black's king was exposed to attack by the white queen.
Now let's take a look at a similar position that will allow us to understand the second rule: pieces that are trapped or with limited mobility.
This tactic is called a perpetual check and occurs in many games where one side sacrifices pieces for an attack.
Here's one final tactical example from a real game. Notice again that the position is very similar to the one that we've been studying in this article:
What happens if the rook recaptures? Then black's rook on d8 is once again poorly defended and white will win it with a check on g5. And if the king recaptures? Well, then black will lose his queen to the tricky skewer Qxh7+.
If you didn't solve this one, don't worry! Study it until you understand how it uses many tactical ideas together, and then use some of them in your own games!