I’m confused about pinning a piece

You can never make a move that exposes your own king to check, regardless of if the checking piece is pinned.

There are two types of pins: relative and absolute.

• A relative pin is where the pinned piece can legally move out of the way, but doing so would allow another piece to be captured, such as a Queen.
• An absolute pin is where a piece is pinned against the King: moving that piece is now illegal as you cannot expose yourself to check.

Here is an example to illustrate the absolute pin:

And here is an example of a relative pin:

There are a handful of ways to get a piece out of a pin:

1. Move the valuable piece to another square, unpinning the attacked piece.
2. Use another piece or a pawn to block the line of sight of the pinning piece.
3. Attempt to kick the pinning piece away with a pawn.
4. Capture the pinning piece entirely.

If you were allowed to move and expose your king to check, your opponent could as well. Think of if it as the player who would get their king captured first if that was allowed. You opponent would take your kink first, ending the game.

That's not how it works.

what is your rating

If a piece is absolutely pinned, it cannot move even if the piece is threatening mate in 1. Imagine the game rules were changed to "take the king to win". "Checkmating" the opposite king with a pinned piece would be a blunder, since the previously pinning piece (the piece used for pinning a piece) would capture you king, so you lose. Example:

#8 in that example should add some material (at least some other piece to cover g6); queen pin doesn't look realistic when queen can just capture pinning piece

It's your move but right before getting to mate you're discovering your king, so it's impossible.

A pin is a tactic where a piece is immobilized because moving it would expose a more valuable piece (often the king or queen) to capture.

Thank you, captain ChatGPT.

This is rich, coming from the worst spammer in chess.com's history.

He takes your king before you take his. (But the rules don't actually allow you to let someone take your king.)

Projection.

HE TAKES YOUR KING FIRST.

1 Error some people said was a Pin Piece can’t move, but it can!

It is limited movement, but it can move!

As long as King isn’t exposed to a Check!

There was a World Famous Mate in 1 which showcased this idea in the forums!

I don’t know the forum link, but yeah!

For beginners, understanding what a pin and especially an absolute pin means is crucial. It’s one of those fundamental chess concepts that really helps you get why you can’t just move any piece willy-nilly, especially when it puts your king in danger.

Knowing the difference between a relative pin and an absolute pin can save you from a lot of frustration, and it’s essential for learning how to protect your king properly. Once you grasp this, your tactical awareness will improve a lot, and you’ll start seeing why some moves that look winning at first glance just aren’t allowed.

So hang in there, keep practicing, and these rules will start making more sense the more you play. The game is all about balancing offense and defense, and pins are one of the key defensive tools built right into the rules.

Pinned pieces can still assist with delivering checkmate, but cannot stop it, as seen in this fake position: