ChessPivot

Missed discovered attack

And you — how often have you allowed it?

Import your games: ChessPivot flags every time this pattern cost you material, and trains you to fix it.

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What is it?

A missed discovered attack is when you had a hidden battery — a piece in front of one of your long-range pieces — and could have triggered it to create two threats, but didn’t.

How it happens

The chance exists when one of your pieces masks the action of a bishop, rook or queen aimed at an enemy target. By moving the screen with its own threat, you reveal the hidden attack. You miss it by not seeing the double action the move allows.

How to avoid it

Identify your own batteries: one of your pieces in front of a bishop, rook or queen, on a line pointing at an enemy target. Ask where that screen piece can go while threatening something itself — the discovery does the rest.

The concept in the glossary

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Discovered attack

A discovered attack is a tactical [move](/en/glossary/move) in which one piece moves away and, in doing so, uncovers an attack by an allied piece that was sitting behind it on the same [rank](/en/glossary/rank), [file](/en/glossary/file), or [diagonal](/en/glossary/diagonal). The mechanism relies on two allied pieces in line: the **moving piece** (sometimes called the screen piece) steps off its square and clears the path of the **discovered piece**, which remains stationary and now attacks an enemy target without having moved. What makes this tactic so dangerous is that the opponent faces two simultaneous threats: the moving piece can itself attack or capture, while the discovered piece strikes along the newly opened line. In practice, scan your position for ranks, files, and diagonals where two of your pieces are aligned with an important enemy piece or square. If the piece blocking the line can move while creating an additional [threat](/en/glossary/threat) of its own, you likely have a discovered attack at your disposal.

Discovered attack →

Train this motif

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Discovered check by the bishop
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Discovered attack by the bishop
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Discovered check by the rook
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Discovered attack by the rook
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Discovered check by the queen
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Discovered attack by the queen

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Frequently asked

What makes a discovery so strong?
The double move: the piece that moves threatens for itself while the unmasked piece attacks elsewhere. The opponent can’t parry both.
How do I spot a discovery to play?
Look for your long-range pieces blocked by one of your own pieces, on a line aimed at the enemy king or queen: moving the screen with a threat triggers the attack.

Going further

← All weaknesses