The World of Chess Tactics: What They Are and How to Use Them
How did you feel when you decided to try chess? Obviously you would know it's complicated, but it's when you really start using the chess board that the true complexity is shown, and it might seem a little overwhelming. Chess games may seem calm on the surface, but anyone who’s played a real game knows that’s a lie. One move is the difference between winning or losing, whether it be a trapped piece, an underdefended king it's all about the little things
However you aren't going to win anything if you defend for you life, or just throw you pieces out without coordination. No, if you want to win you have to master tactics, from the basic concepts like forks and skewers, to the underappreciated art of overloading, this blog is a tour of some of the world of chess tactics. 
Table of Contents
Forks
Fork are an integral part to chess middlegames, opening traps, and endgame surprises. A fork , simply put is a double attack, when a piece attacks to pieces of higher value at the same time, a classic fork includes using the knight and bishop to target either the f7 or c7 squares.
As your opponents get better though you will probably fin there are many counters to this strategy as often times these traps are a lot less obvious and only work with some kind of tactic before it, essentialy al you need to know is that it's when you attack multiple pieces at once, and is best done with knights due to their unusual movement but also with bishops in certain case, and in very niche cases even the rook to fork the king and queen.
Pins
pins are also a very common theme in chess which involves using a piece to restrict another pieces movement by "pinning" it to another pieces. For example if a bishop is positioned in a way that if a piece like say a knight moves then it could take a piece of greater value, like the queen, then moving the knight would be bad, hence restricting it's movement.
There's 2 types of pins, absolute and relative. Absolute pins are more strong as it means a piece is pinned to the king, so the opponent couldn't move it even if they wanted to as it would be illegal. Relative pins are when a piece is pinned to a piece that is of greater value than the piece doing the pinning, meaning they could technically move the piece, it would just be a bad idea... most of the time. There are still some niche cases where it's fine to ignore a relative pin, and sacrifice material, like in the popular legal's mate:
Skewers
A skewer is like a pin but backwards. Instead of pinning a piece to a valuable piece, you pin a more valuable piece to a less valuable piece, that's still more valuable than the pinning piece, so if it stays, you win, and if it moves, you take the piece behind it. For instance you could skewer a king and queen with a bishop if they are lined up in a way.
Skewers feel especially satisfying because the outcome is almost unavoidable, unlike relative and even absolute pins, as it doesn't always win material and just gives a slight advantage. They show up a lot on open files, long diagonals, and endgames, and once you start recognizing the pattern, it just become more easy to find again and again.
Discovered Attacks & Checks
A discovered attack happens when one piece moves out of the way and reveals an attack from another piece behind it. For instance if there was a queen and we had our rook(defended) on the same file with just a bishop infront, we could move the bishop to reveal an attack on the queen.
What makes these so dangerous is that it's very sneaky and can be devastating. it could lead to a double attack if the bishop also attacks something else. This is a very sneaky tactic to not only look for, but also look out for. (See what I there) Discovered checks are even more powerful, since the opponent must respond to the check while you’re free to follow up with another threat.
These tactics reward good piece coordination and often flip a game on it's pieces.
Batteries
Batteries are crucial to attacking and creating threats, especially on a castled king. They involve lining 2 pieces up on the same file or diagonal (like queen and bishop on a diagonal, or 2 rooks on the same file) to create immense pressure on all squares it can go to, Queen-bishop set ups are common middlegame techniques in attacking a castled king, while 2 rook on the same file dominate endgames, and bully isolated and doubled pawns, and fully secures open files most of the time. Here are some common examples of batteries:
Overloading
Overloading is a very underrated tactic, and one that is crucial not to overlook. A lot of people play passively and you can take advantage with various other tactics to punish it, and if the board opens up, then sometimes a piece is overloaded. This basically means it's defending too many pieces at once, and if you take one piece, after they take back the other piece is no longer defended. For instance look at this example that shows the power of overloading:
This is a variation of the popular tactic and method of removing the defender. It can be very game changing!
Conclusion
At the end of the day, tactics are the game changer—they’re about seeing the board clearly when it matters. Every fork, skewer, or discovered check comes from the same place: pieces working together and pressure being applied at the right moment. The more you practice these ideas, you get better and better, and when that happens, chess becomes a whole lot more fun.
But in the meantime, Thank you for reading my blog, have a great day, and remember: just keep chessing. 
