How to Play a Pin & Skewer Chess Game

Video Transcript

"Now, other mid-game dangers to watch out for are the so-called Pin, and the Skewer. And basically, this is what it is; white to move, white moves here. Notice that the black rook is now pinned against the black king, so this is an example of a pin. And the problem is that black cannot move the rook, because he would be in check, which is an illegal situation; you cannot move into check; therefore, he would have to do something else. Let's say that he moves the king out of the way, but then unfortunately he is going to lose his rook for, and rook as we said is a powerful piece. Even if he manages to re-capture the bishop, he still lost the exchange. They call that situation losing the exchange. Now, there is another thing that can happen which is somewhat similar, which is the Skewer. In the Skewer, it is the checked piece which is attacked first. So, in this example the white bishop would move here, and it is attacking the black king. The black king is in check. The black king needs to get out of check, and let's say; we know there's various ways he can get out, but let's say that in this example the only way he can get out is by moving out of the way. So let's say he goes here, and now the skewered piece; the rook is once again going to be taken and lost by the bishop."