Tactics by Paul Littlewood – The Pin
This week’s blog features the second in a series of Paul Littlewood’s articles on Tactics, which was originally published in the ECF’s monthly Magazine ChessMoves. In this article Paul looks at one of the basic tactical motifs – the Pin. A Pin occurs when a long range piece (ie a bishop, rook or queen) prevents an opponent’s ‘pinned’ piece from moving because it would expose a higher value piece or critical square to attack. The immobilized pinned piece is often unable to perform an important function, and/ or can be subject to attack or capture.
Aaron Nimzowitch devoted chapter 7 of his book ‘My System’ to the Pin which he saw as a core strategic element (alongside the centre, open files, and the passed pawn). He emphasised how the pin can restrain an opponent's piece and affect the course of a game in addition to the potential for immediate tactics.
Tactics by Paul Littlewood – ChessMoves January 2022
The defensive power of a pinned piece is only imaginary - Aaron Nimzowich
The pin is mightier than the sword - Fred Reinfeld
In my previous article we looked at stalemate motifs in the endgame. So in the next few articles I want to cover some of the core tactical motifs we should look out for. Here is a simple example of a pin from one of my own games.
Littlewood vs T. Gulbrandsen, Norway 1977
White can exploit the absolute pin of the Black knight by 1.f4 winning material.
Note that the Black Knight is pinned against the Black King and so cannot move. There are other sorts of pins which are not absolute, for example if a White Knight is pinned by a Black Bishop against a White Queen. Clearly if the White knight moves then he would lose his Queen. However sometimes the fact that this pin is not absolute can be exploited.
Consider the following position.
White can play the surprising move 1.Nxe5! and after 1…Bxd1 2.Bxf7+ Ke7 3.Nd5 is mate.
Here is an example of how a pin can be exploited.
Kaplan - Bronstein, Hastings 1975
After 1…Qxc3 2.bxc3 Rxe2 3.Rd5 Rxd2 4.Rxd2 Rd8 5.Rd1 c4! …White is powerless, as after various pawn moves he will be forced to move away from the defence of the Rook on d2 and so will be a piece down.
Sometimes a piece can be pinned a second time on a separate line from the original pin. This is known as a cross pin and can be a critical resource in taking advantage of the pin. Here is an example from a game played in 1941.
Hermann Halosar v Karl Poschauko, Graz 1941
White to play
Please have a go at the following there positions to see if you can spot the pin tactic involved.
Klaman vs Lisitsin, USSR 1937
White to play and win
Benites vs Euwe, San Juan 1948
White to play and win
Alexey Shirov vs Evgeny Bareev, Novgorod 1994
White to play and win
Pins feature in just about every game of chess that you play and so it is important that you grasp the principles involved and apply them to your own games.
Improvers – Solutions
The solutions to the three problems above are -
Klaman vs Lisitsin USSR 1937
1.Rb3 ! this exploits the pin on the Black pawn on c5. Now if 1…cxb3 then 2.Qxb4 wins or if 1….Qa4 ( or 1..Qa5) 2.Qb8+ Kd7 2.Rb7+ Ke8 3.Re7 mate
Benites vs Euwe San Juan 1948
1.Qa3! ….with the main point being that if 1…Qxa3 2.Rd8+ Ke7 3.Re8 mate. Black doesn’t have to take the Queen but other moves lead to material loss.
Shirov vs Bareev, 1994
1. Rad1! .. winning the queen which is caught in a cross pin and cannot capture the rook due to the diagonal pin, or the queen on a4 which would allow Rxd8 mate.
Happy pinning!
Paul Littlewood
