Question about a rule of chess

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Jschutz13
Hello, I’m a relatively new chess player. I have a question about a chess rule…

Let’s say I have pinned my opponents rook to his King. However on this same file, the pinned rook is staring down the one pawn I have in front of my own King on the back rank. If the opponent were to then take my pawn with his Queen, would this result in a checkmate (assuming I have no other defense) or does the fact that his rook, which supports the queen, is pinned, allow me to actually take his queen?

I am confused because if queen takes, technically the rook is pinned so I’d imagine I can take. I’m unclear on the rule here. It’s my understanding the game would end in mate but it’s not clear to me why.

Any confirmation on the rule would be helpful and some logic behind it would be helpful. Thank you.

nklristic

It is a checkmate.

 

On the other hand, if you have something other than a king that defends that square, you can take the queen with that other piece, and rook will not be able to recapture as it is pinned, AKA he would left his king in check, so he can't retake.



In any case, in the first example, king can't take because it would be in check after that move, making that move illegal. Basically any move you make that would left your king in check after making it is illegal.

Alramech
Jschutz13 wrote:
Hello, I’m a relatively new chess player. I have a question about a chess rule…

Let’s say I have pinned my opponents rook to his King. However on this same file, the pinned rook is staring down the one pawn I have in front of my own King on the back rank. If the opponent were to then take my pawn with his Queen, would this result in a checkmate (assuming I have no other defense) or does the fact that his rook, which supports the queen, is pinned, allow me to actually take his queen?

I am confused because if queen takes, technically the rook is pinned so I’d imagine I can take. I’m unclear on the rule here. It’s my understanding the game would end in mate but it’s not clear to me why.

Any confirmation on the rule would be helpful and some logic behind it would be helpful. Thank you.

 

 

So I believe that I have set up your position in the diagram above.  You will notice that the diagram confirms that when the Queen takes the pawn, it is checkmate.  The rule of chess to keep in mind is that it is illegal for a king to move to an attacked square.  Even though the rook is pinned, the rook is still attacking the f2 square and defending the Queen.  Therefore, checkmate.

I also look at it this way: let's assume instead of checkmate, the game ends when the king is captured.  If the King were to take the queen, then the rook would take the White King first = a win.

llama47
Jschutz13 wrote:

Let’s say I have pinned my opponents rook to his King. However on this same file, the pinned rook is staring down the one pawn I have in front of my own King on the back rank. If the opponent were to then take my pawn with his Queen, would this result in a checkmate 

Yes.

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Jschutz13
Thanks all for the answers!