Missed pin
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.
What is it?
A missed pin is when you could have immobilised an enemy piece against its king or queen — neutralising or winning it — but didn’t play it. The pin is one of the simplest ways to fix a target.
How it happens
The chance appears when an enemy piece is lined up in front of its king or queen on a file, rank or diagonal your bishop, rook or queen can occupy. You miss it by not looking at those enemy alignments.
How to avoid it
Look for enemy pieces sitting in front of a more valuable target on the same line, and see whether one of your long-range pieces can settle there to pin them. Once pinned, attack the piece again to win it.
The concept in the glossary
Pin
A pin is a tactic that restricts an enemy piece by forcing it to stay on its square in order to protect a more valuable piece or square behind it, under [threat](/en/glossary/threat) of material loss. A pin is created by a long-range piece — a [rook](/en/glossary/rook), [bishop](/en/glossary/bishop), or [queen](/en/glossary/queen) — that lines up on the same [rank](/en/glossary/rank), file, or [diagonal](/en/glossary/diagonal) as two enemy pieces. The "pinned" piece cannot or should not [move](/en/glossary/move), because doing so would expose something more valuable behind it. There are two types: an absolute pin, where the pinned piece cannot legally move because it would expose the king to [check](/en/glossary/check), and a relative pin, where it should not move because the resulting material loss would be too costly. In practice, a pin often gains time and creates additional threats. Whenever one of your long-range pieces aligns with an enemy piece and a valuable target behind it, exploit the pin by attacking the pinned piece with additional pieces or pawns. The opponent will struggle to defend effectively.
Pin →Train this motif
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Frequently asked
- What is an offensive pin for?
- To paralyse an enemy piece, then pile attackers on it: one extra attacker on the pinned square often wins it, since the piece can’t flee.
- Which piece pins best?
- Long-range pieces: the bishop on diagonals, the rook and queen on files and ranks. A pin against the king is strongest because the pinned piece is completely frozen.