Important Chess Tactics from A-Z - Part 1: A-F

"Chess is 99% Tactics" - Rudolf Teichamann 

Hello everyone, in this blog series I'll go over the A-Z of Chess Tactics. Let's start!

A - Attacking the Castled King 

All tactics that involve attacking a castled king. These would be ideas such as sacrifices to the surrounding pawns of a castled position, pawn storms, as well as many other possible tactical themes  -- with the specific distinction that the pattern was used to attack a castled King's position, either kingside or queenside.

B - Back Rank 

A back-rank mate is when either the rook or queen is attacking the enemy King, and this enemy King is trapped "on the back rank" (which means either the 1st or 8th rank) by his own army.

C - Clearance Sacrifice:  

"Clearance Sacrifice" (or just "clearance") is a term used to describe a deliberate sacrifice of material with the goal of "clearing" of either a square, diagonal, or file. The most common clearance sacrifices open a critical diagonal (see example). The sacrifice of a pawn to open a square for a knight (like a pawn moving to e5 from e4, sacrificing itself in order to free the e4-square for a knight) would also be considered a "positional" clearance sacrifice.

D - Discovered Attack/Check:  

An attack that happens when one piece moves out of the way, opening a line for another attacking piece to threaten something (either checkmate or material). A discovered check is the same thing, but the revealed piece is attacking the enemy king, so it is also check. When the piece that moves to reveal the hidden attacker also attacks a piece, this may be referred to as a discovered "double" attack/check.

E - Endgame Tactic:

Any tactic that occurs in the endgame. The endgame is the last part of the game, and is generally believed to start when most of the pieces have been traded, especially after the queens are traded.

F - Fork / Double Attack:  

A double attack is an attack or threat on two things at once. The advantage of a double attack is that it is hard to defend two things with one move. We use the term fork to describe a double attack by a single unit, usually a knight, queen, or pawn.

That brings an end to this blog. I hope you enjoyed!