Pinning Chess Move – Pinning Your Opponent’s Chess Piece

The pinning in chess is a move in which you force one of your opponent's pieces to stay put in one’s place because moving it would expose a more prominent piece behind it. There are times when pinned pieces can’t move at all, as doing so would expose their king. You can only do a pinning move with your queens, bishops, and rooks because they can move in straight lines.

Some people define pinning as to threatening a chess piece that is blocking a file to the king. In simple terms: that piece can’t move because if it were no longer in place their king would be in check and that would be an illegal move. It is a common chess rule that you cannot make a move that would place your king in check.

Let’s say you have a rook in the same file as that of your opponent's king, but your opponent also has a knight in this file. The opponent’s knight in question can’t move because again that would be an illegal move on your opponent’s side. You now have a choice to either take that knight with your rook or with another of your pieces. Always take advantage of pinning and capture your chess opponent's piece while you can. Pinning is a strategy that many experienced chess players use to win games on a regularly consistent basis.

When to Capture the Pinned Piece

The most common chess pinning scenario is when you pin a chess piece that your opponent has placed (for protection) in front of his or her king. For example, if your opponent places a bishop in front of their king and you then place your rook on the same file. In this situation, your opponent can’t move their bishop or their king will be placed into check, and this will be an illegal move.

Now that you have learnt the art of pinning your chess opponent's pieces, you need to learn when the best time is to actually capture the pinned piece.

A chess player will of react too rashly and take his or her opponent's pinned piece because they are too eager or because it seems like the right move. This can often be a mistake. If you are in a position to pin one of your chess opponent's pieces, it might well be a good idea to wait to capture that pinned piece. If you overreact and go for the capture, you can lose the chess piece that you have used to create the pin.

A better option could be to wait until your opponent moves that chess piece. If you are patient, your opponent will usually move their king in order to get their pinned piece back into the game. When they move their king, capture the pinned piece. Alternately, you could make sure that your opponent has moved their king in order for you to capture their pinned piece without losing the piece you were pinning with. It’s crucial to be patient; too many chess games are lost because a player acted too quickly.