Missed skewer
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 skewer is when you could have attacked a valuable enemy piece that, stepping aside, would have handed you a piece behind it — but you didn’t see it. It’s material left on the table.
How it happens
The chance arises when two enemy pieces sit on an open line, the stronger in front, within reach of your rook, bishop or queen. Very common in the endgame, after a check that forces the king to clear a rook. You miss it by not scanning enemy alignments on open lines.
How to avoid it
Spot valuable enemy pieces sitting in front of another on an open file, rank or diagonal, and see whether you can attack them head-on. Checks that win a piece behind the king are worth looking for systematically in the endgame.
The concept in the glossary
Skewer
A skewer in chess is a tactical device in which an attacking piece targets a high-value enemy piece, forcing it to [move](/en/glossary/move) out of the line of attack — and exposing a less valuable piece behind it, which can then be captured. A skewer is essentially the reverse of a [pin](/en/glossary/pin): instead of immobilizing a piece because it shields something important behind it, the skewer forces the more valuable piece to flee, abandoning whatever stood in its shadow. A classic example: a [rook](/en/glossary/rook) delivers [check](/en/glossary/check) to a [king](/en/glossary/king) that stands in front of an enemy [queen](/en/glossary/queen) on the same [file](/en/glossary/file) — the king must move, and the rook captures the queen for free. In practice, skewers are carried out by long-range pieces — the queen, rook, and bishop. Train yourself to spot alignments where a king or queen stands in front of a less valuable piece along the same rank, file, or [diagonal](/en/glossary/diagonal). Those are the positions where a skewer becomes possible.
Skewer →Train this motif
Exercises built from YOUR games (solved, missed) are part of ChessPivot Plus. Discover ChessPivot Plus
Frequently asked
- Skewer or pin — which is offensive here?
- Both are offensive weapons. The skewer attacks the strong piece in front to win the one behind; the pin freezes the piece in front of a more valuable target.
- Why aim for skewers in the endgame?
- Because active kings and rooks often end up on open lines: a single check can then skewer the king and rook, and decide the game.