What is a skewer?

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Avatar of bubba42414

I was reviewing my game and it said I overlooked an opportunity to win a room through a skewer. I have no idea what that is so can someone explain it to me?

Avatar of Fr3nchToastCrunch

A skewer is when a high-value piece is attacked, but moving it out of the way leaves an undefended piece of a lesser value open to being captured. In other words, it's the opposite of a pin.

In this case, Qa8+ attacks the king and forces it to move, which in turn leaves the rook hanging.


Example where the piece being skewered is the king:


Example where the piece being skewered is not the king: