Battery

Hey everybody I’ve had my diamond account for a relatively short amount of time and am loving it so far. Learning and improving at a rapid place. Site single handily reinvigorated my love for the game.

Now battery, I don’t quite understand the definition of it. Some sites exclusively define it with the bishop and queen on the same diagonal others include the the rook queen combination as well but I thought that had a different name. Others say it’s any position where you have multiple pieces attacking a single enemy square. I would just like a very comprehensive definition of it so when doing “Battery” puzzles I can recognize what part of it is the battery.

Thank you for your help!

Hi!! Batteries are one of those things you have to learn in order to improve your chess game and tactics (puzzles also help with this) along with forks and pins. The dictionary definition of battery in chess is a formation that consists of two or more pieces on the same rank, file, or diagonal. This definition might not help so here are some examples. Hope this helps. 

 

@Heritageoviya Does this include pieces being backed by pawns or pawns being back by other pieces? And pieces being supported by knights? I ask this because when I go to puzzles and I select only the Battery section I get puzzles with solutions as these and thus become confused as to if I actually solved it using a battery at all.

So, I tried out the puzzles in the Battery section and I realized that some of the puzzles already give you a battery with 2 or more pieces and you have to try to checkmate or attack the king, but as the puzzles get harder, you have to CREATE the battery and attack the king or win some of your opponent's pieces. The answer to you question is... yes when pieces are supported by other pieces that is a battery IF they are attacking the SAME SQUARE OR PIECE. Before I moved to chess.com I learned chess on a popular website called chesskid.com. Look up on the internet "Beasting Battered Batteries" and click on the first link that pops up. That will take you to an article that will better explain what batteries are. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Hi!! I just wanted to check if you understood batteries because you haven't responded in a few days. 

This was helpful.  I had the same question because "battery" is not listed in the puzzle help section that describes what the various puzzle themes are.  Thanks to you both.

Simply put, a battery is the activity of two or more pieces of the same side along the same vector (file, diagonal, or rank).

Setting up a battery has its nuances, tho. The battery effect can be devastating because, unlike other coordinations based on converging points, it works on several squares along the same vector thus requiring numbers and flexibility on the defense. But should the battery face defenders of lower material value, it may feel like hitting on solid rock thus requiring help from other pieces to soften the defense. Besides, if exchanges are foreseeable then the lower value piece (or pieces) should be in the front of the battery, but if an effective infiltration or an attack against the king is the subject, then the higher value piece (usually the queen) has to be upfront.