What is a pin in chess?
A pin is an attack on a piece that can’t move without exposing something worth more behind it. Absolute and relative pins, and how to use them.
A pin is when a piece can’t move, or shouldn’t, because moving it would expose a more valuable piece behind it to capture. Bishops, rooks and queens make pins, since they attack along lines. When the piece behind is the king, the pinned piece can’t legally leave the line.
What is the difference between an absolute and a relative pin?
An absolute pin is a pin to the king. The pinned piece is not allowed to move off the line, because that would leave its own king in check. A piece that moves along that line, like a rook pinned on a file, can still move up and down it or take the pinning piece. A pinned knight can’t move at all.
A relative pin is a pin to anything else, usually the queen or a rook. The pinned piece can move, it just costs you whatever stands behind it. Usually that’s a bad deal, but not always, and several well-known opening traps are built on a relative pin that doesn’t hold.
| Pin | Piece behind | Can the pinned piece move? |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute | The king | Only along the line of the pin |
| Relative | The queen, a rook or another piece | Yes, at a cost |
How do you win material with a pin?
The usual way is to attack the pinned piece again, ideally with something cheap like a pawn. It can’t step away, and your opponent often has no time to break the pin before you take.
The other way is to pile up on it. If the pinned piece is defended once, attack it twice. It can’t safely move, so your opponent has to keep finding defenders, and often runs out of them.
Can a pin be broken?
Yes, in four ways:
- Move the piece behind the pin out of the line, often the king stepping aside
- Put another piece between the pinned piece and the attacker
- Capture the pinning piece
- Attack the pinning piece so it has to move or be traded
Each of these takes a move, so if you are the one pinning, add the extra attacker before your opponent gets that move.
Is a relative pin always safe to trust?
No. A relative pin only holds if moving the pinned piece really loses something. The Légal Trap is the classic case where it doesn’t.
The Légal Trap
Before you rely on a pin, ask what happens if your opponent ignores it.
How do you spot pins in your games?
Look for two of your opponent’s pieces on the same line, with the cheaper one in front. A king and a queen on the same diagonal, a king and a knight on the same file, a queen and a rook on the same rank. If one of your bishops, rooks or your queen can land on that line, there may be a pin.
Check your own pieces the same way, especially your king. Castling takes the king off the e-file and the diagonals leading to e1 or e8, where many opening pins happen.
How many pins do you miss?
Chesslord’s insights count the pins against the king that you played and the ones you missed, piece by piece, across your chess.com and Lichess games. The panel lists the latest positions, and any of them opens in the game review. The same insights count your forks too.
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