Mastering Chess Pins: Modern Masterpieces #8

Pins showcase the power of long-range pieces. In pins, not only is an opponent's piece directly under attack, also additional pieces and squares behind the pinned piece come under fire. Bishops, rooks, and queens can create pins - the most powerful pins are those against the king. Then, the opponent is not even legally ALLOWED to move a pinned piece since doing so would expose the king to check.

To escape a pin, the defender has a few options:

• Capture or threaten the pinning piece.
• Block the pin.
• Move the piece against which there is a pin.
• Dramatically move the pinned piece, sacrificing the piece behind it.

When the opponent can't do any of these things, the pin can easily become debilitating, tying down the defense while the pinner brings more pieces up to attack and win the pinned piece or just attacking other parts of the board.

Even win you can't win tactically with a pin, you should use them regularly to maximize the potency of your long-range pieces while forcing your opponent to defend.

100+ Modern Masterpieces Guaranteed To Improve Your Chess: Tactics

1. Mastering Chess Forks - Modern Masterpieces: #7
2. Mastering Chess Pins - Modern Masterpieces: #8

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Today's game showcases the great Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with a tremendous attack against GM Pavel Tregubov. Mamedyarov opens with a Marshall Gambit, attacking on the weak dark squares, but he trades in his huge dark-squared bishop for an even great future for his light-squared bishop, ultimately creating a beautiful pin and conclusive attack.