Basic Tactics: Pins

Let's first define what a blunder is

    "Blunder is a move that allows the change of the Material  Status Quo of the position."

Any move that will allow your opponent to win a pawn or a piece is a blunder.

Here it is important to note that the ultimate goal of the game is win and that can be achieved only by disturbing the material equality to your favor or by checkmate.All games are decided either because mate or material loss are inevitable.That means that king protection and material equality/superiority are the 2 most important factors in every chess game.It doesn't matter how good your strategy or your ability to plan is if you can't protect the threatened pieces or if you can't see your opponent's unprotected ones.

    Let's return to blunder.Blunder is a much wider term but it essentially remains the same.It is possible that a move don't disturb the material status quo of the position but allows a series of moves that will create an imbalance of material.In that case we are talking for a tactical blunder.

     To avoid tactical blunders you must be able to recognise the factors that are creating them and that we are going to do.

    We will start with pins.Pins are a form of double attack but with the second piece attacked indirectly.In a pin 3 are the pieces that are involved.The attacking piece, the directly attacked piece(or pinned) and the indirectly attacked piece.Let's see an example:

With his last move (4.Bb5) white directly attacks Nc6 and the knight can't move(pinned)as the king is behind it in the same diagonal(indirectly attacked).Pin is an unpleasant situation as it immobilises one piece.That means that if more pieces attack(pile up) the pinned piece it is possible for the attacking side to win material.The usual for the attacking side is to try to attack the pinned piece with a pawn(if possible).In our position , if black leaves Nc6 pinned , a well timed d5 will gain material(for now ...a6 followed by ...b5 avoids the loss).

    Sometimes a lot of other  threats related to the pin are created .In diagram 1 , black has to worry not only about a later d5.There are immediate threats which can lead to a lost(or nearly lost) position.For example:

Black lost a pawn , lost castling right and his pawn structure is ruined.His position is considered lost already in 8th move and all white did was pin a knight.

     When one of our pieces is pinned we have to examine what other threats the pin creates.In any case unpinning the pinned piece should be one of our priorities.In our example , not surprisingly , 4...Bd7 , immediately breaking the pin is the best defense.

 Things are even worst for the defender if the attacking side can attack the defenders of the pinned piece.See the next example:

      A pin made an equal position(if the pin didn't exist)to collapse in 3 moves.

        Of course , playing h3 and a3 or h6 and a6 inthe first moves is not the solution as these moves can create other problems if unreasonably played.

Not all pins are dangerous.Sometimes a careless pin can seriously backfire to the attacking side.

We prevent threats we evaluate as dangerous and we don't try to prevent any threat.That usually creates threats instead of preventing them.

  Next exercises aim in teaching you how to spot dangerous pinning attacks and how to exploit them or how to avoid them.Some of them are simple without fancy moves.The exercise ends once either checkmate or decisive material gain has been achieved for the attacking side.

  PIN 1

 PIN 2

  PIN 3

 PIN 3

 PIN 1

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