Forks, pins and skewers
Ready when: Attack and defence (i1) started.
What you are learning
Three tactics, one a week: the fork (one piece attacks two), the pin (a piece cannot move because a more valuable one is behind it) and the skewer (the valuable piece moves and the one behind it falls). Tactics win most games between beginners.
Words on this card King, Queen, Rook, Bishop, Knight, Capture, Check, Fork, Pin, Skewer
- King
- Moves one square in any direction. Losing it to checkmate loses the game.
- Queen
- Moves any number of squares in a straight line or diagonal.
- Rook
- Moves any number of squares along a file or rank.
- Bishop
- Moves any number of squares along a diagonal, so it stays on one colour.
- Knight
- Moves in an L shape (two squares one way, then one square to the side) and jumps over other pieces.
- Capture
- Taking an enemy piece by moving onto its square.
- Check
- Check is an attack on the king; checkmate is check with no way out.
- Fork
- One piece attacking two enemy pieces at once.
- Pin
- A piece that cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it.
- Skewer
- An attack on a valuable piece that, when it moves, leaves a piece behind it to be taken.
Set up
Puzzle positions from a free puzzle set or a chess book.
Weather: any weather
Show it first for the one teaching
- Fork: put a knight where it attacks a king and a rook at once.
- Pin: line up a bishop, an enemy knight and the enemy king; the knight cannot move.
- Skewer: a rook checks a king with a queen behind it; the king moves and the queen is taken.
Your part while they practise
Hold back; ask "what does that move attack?"
Step by step
- One motif a week: fork, then pin, then skewer.
- 5 puzzles per session.
- For each, say what the winning move attacks.
How much: 5 puzzles 12 min a session 3 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Puzzle race
Who finds the fork first.
Who plays: 2 players against each other, or the child against the clock.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Set a puzzle position between you
- On "go", both look; the first to say "found it" shows the move
- Right: a point. Wrong: the other player has 30 seconds to try
- 8 puzzles
- Fair play
- A grown-up waits 20 seconds before looking.
- Points
- 1 point for each puzzle solved first.
- Fouls
- The other player scores 1 point
- Touching the pieces before saying "found it"
- A move that leaves your own piece hanging
- Winning
- More points after 8 puzzles.
- 3 points for 1 star
- 5 points for 2 stars
- 7 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
One-move puzzles.
Puzzles needing a preparatory move.
What you will see, and what to say
- the child sees only their own threat
What does the opponent threaten?
Look at both sides. - the child plays too fast
Slow down, check every capture
One more look.
Self-check
4 of 5 puzzles of one motif solved.
Stop and get a coach when
The child becomes distressed by repeated errors.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains tactical pattern recognition.
awiseathlete.com/sports/mind-sports/mind-sports-i2