Chess Moves – Skewer Chess Move

A skewer is a chess move, which attacks 2 pieces in a straight line. It is similar to a pin move, except that the opponent’s more valuable piece is in front of the less valuable piece.

After your opponent moves their more valuable piece away, you can then capture the lesser piece. Queens, bishops, and rooks, can perform the chess skewer move.

It is essential to learn that skewering and pinning moves are favorite moves for many seasoned chess players. These moves are quite basic strategies that can often help you to win. Knowing how to utilize the skewer and the pin will help you to improve your game. You will be able to force you opponent into situations of either being placed in check or losing their highly valued piece. This gives you the upper hand because you are now in control of the game and your opponent is simply trying to survive your attacks.

A skewer is often used to threaten a highly valued piece such as your chess opponent’s queen. Your opponent will probably move their queen out of harm’s way and leave an open attack to a lesser-valued chess piece such as a knight or bishop. For example, you could place a protected bishop to threaten a queen, and if that queen moves out of harms way, the knight is exposed. Your opponent will move their queen 99% of the time, which allows you a free victory over the knight. Always take advantage of a skewer move. Don’t plan a skewer unless you intend to take the piece with lesser value.

A skewer can therefore be described as a sacrifice that you are forcing your opponent to make. Only after threatening one of their primary pieces, will they willingly give up one of their more powerful secondary pieces (for example a knight or a rook) If your opponent acts in haste and decides to attack and capture your chess piece that is doing the threatening, your chess opponent will probably lose the chess piece that he or she used to capture your threatening piece. As you probably know, it is not wise to capture your opponent’s bishop with your queen and then lose your queen the very next move.

Not to make use of a chess skewer when you have the chance is rather silly, unless you have a plan to carry out checkmate in your next few moves. The flip side of the skewer advice is of course, to not allow yourself to be put into a position where your chess opponent is able to easily skewer your pieces. We’ve all had it happen before in a chess game, where we are in the position where we have to decide which of our pieces we are willing to lose, because we are unable to keep both pieces no matter what. When we are forced to make a skewer attack decision it always gives our chess opponent an advantage in the game. Always be on the lookout for what you believe your opponent is trying to do in his or her next couple of moves, and try to guard yourself against being skewered in chess.