Complete coach/reference handout

Week 6 — Pin

Ages 8–10Beginner60 minutes

Lesson goal

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to recognize a pin, tell the difference between an absolute pin and a relative pin, exploit a pinned piece, and name at least one way to break a pin.

What is a pin?

A pin happens when a bishop, rook, or queen attacks an enemy piece and that piece has something more important behind it on the same line.

Absolute pin: the king is behind the pinned piece. The pinned piece may not move if that would expose the king to check.
Relative pin: a queen, rook, or another valuable target is behind the pinned piece. Moving is legal, but usually loses material.

Coach cue: Ask the child to physically point to the three objects in every pin: attacker → pinned piece → valuable target. Do not accept “it looks pinned”; make them trace the line.

Recognition routine: LINE → MIDDLE → BEHIND → USE IT

1. LINELook along bishop diagonals, rook files/ranks, and queen lines.

2. MIDDLEIs one enemy piece sitting in front?

3. BEHINDIs a king, queen, or more valuable piece behind it?

4. USE ITCan you capture the pinned piece, add an attacker, or make another threat?

Final safety check: Is the pin real? Can the opponent capture the pinning piece, block the line, or move the valuable piece away?

Worked visual examples

Worked example 1

Absolute bishop pin

Black to move · orientation: black

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

The bishop attacks the knight. The knight is frozen: moving it would uncover an attack on the king, which is illegal. This is an absolute pin.

AttackerWhite bishop on b5

PinnedBlack knight on c6

BehindBlack king on e8

Original teaching diagram

Worked example 2

Relative bishop pin

Black to move · orientation: black

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

The knight may legally move, but then the bishop would attack the queen. That makes this a relative pin.

AttackerWhite bishop on g5

PinnedBlack knight on f6

BehindBlack queen on d8

Original teaching diagram

Worked example 3

Rook pin on a file

Black to move · orientation: black

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

Rooks can pin too. The bishop sits on the e-file between the rook and the king, so the bishop cannot leave the file.

AttackerWhite rook on e1

PinnedBlack bishop on e6

BehindBlack king on e8

Original teaching diagram

Worked example 4

Queen creates a relative pin

Black to move · orientation: black

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

A queen can pin along a file. The knight can move, but doing so would expose the black queen behind it.

AttackerWhite queen on d1

PinnedBlack knight on d5

BehindBlack queen on d8

Original teaching diagram

Worked example 5

Real opening pattern: Sveshnikov relative pin

Black to move after 7.Bg5 · orientation: black

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

The bishop lines up the knight with the queen. The knight is not absolutely frozen, but moving it carelessly loses the queen.

AttackerWhite bishop on g5

PinnedBlack knight on f6

BehindBlack queen on d8

Redrawn/adapted from FIDE curriculum, Lesson Twenty

Worked example 6

Real opening pattern: Nimzo-Indian absolute pin

White to move after 3...Bb4 · orientation: white

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

Here the knight cannot move because the king is behind it on the same diagonal. This is the classic absolute pin pattern.

AttackerBlack bishop on b4

PinnedWhite knight on c3

BehindWhite king on e1

Redrawn/adapted from FIDE curriculum, Lesson Twenty

Worked example 7

Exploit a pin by adding another attacker

White to move · orientation: white

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

Once a piece is pinned, look for a second attacker. Here the queen also attacks c6, so the pinned knight is much harder to defend.

AttackerWhite bishop on b5

PinnedBlack knight on c6

BehindBlack king on e8

Original teaching diagram

Worked example 8

Pinned defender cannot recapture

White to move · orientation: white

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

The f7-pawn is pinned to the king. That matters because it cannot leave f7 to recapture a piece on g6 without exposing the king.

AttackerWhite bishop on c4

PinnedBlack pawn on f7

BehindBlack king on g8

Original teaching diagram

Worked example 9

Break a pin by blocking the line

White to move · orientation: white

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

Pins are not permanent. White can place the bishop from c1 on d2, blocking the diagonal behind the knight and freeing the knight to move later.

AttackerBlack bishop on b4

PinnedWhite knight on c3

BehindWhite king on e1

Original teaching diagram; defensive idea consistent with FIDE curriculum

Worked example 10

Relative pin across a rank

White to move · orientation: white

attackerpinned piecevaluable target

Pins can run sideways. The rook attacks the bishop, and the queen is the valuable piece behind it.

AttackerWhite rook on a4

PinnedBlack bishop on d4

BehindBlack queen on h4

Original teaching diagram

Pin checklist

The pinning piece must be a bishop, rook, or queen.
Attacker, pinned piece, and valuable target must lie on the same diagonal, file, or rank.
If the king is the target, ask: “Would moving the pinned piece expose check?” If yes, that move is illegal.
If a queen or rook is the target, the pinned piece can move legally — but calculate what is lost.
After finding a pin, do not stop thinking. Look for a second attacker, capture, check, or mate threat.
Before calling it a pin, check whether the attacker can simply be captured or the line can be blocked.

Continuation: The f7-pawn cannot recapture on g6.

The bishop on c4 pins the f7-pawn to the king on g8. If the pawn moved to g6, the bishop would give check along c4–d5–e6–f7–g8, so that recapture is illegal.

Original teaching diagram

Puzzle 7 White to move

White to move · orientation: white

Win the pinned bishop.

Show / hide hint

The bishop sits in the middle of a rook–queen line. Which pawn can capture it?

Show / hide answer

Correct move: 1. cxd4

The c3-pawn takes the bishop. The bishop could have moved earlier, but doing so would have exposed the queen on h4 to the rook on a4.

Original teaching diagram

Puzzle 8 White to move

White to move · orientation: white

Use a second attacker to collect the pinned knight.

Show / hide hint

The knight cannot move away from the b5–e8 diagonal. Which rook can reach c6?

Show / hide answer

Correct move: 1. Rxc6

The rook captures the knight on c6. The bishop on b5 is the pinning piece, so the knight cannot escape by moving.

Original teaching diagram

Puzzle 9 White to move

White to move · orientation: white

Break the pin without moving the knight.

Show / hide hint

Move the king off the diagonal in one legal king-and-rook move.

Show / hide answer

Correct move: 1. O-O!

Castling moves the king from e1 to g1. Once the king leaves the b4–e1 diagonal, the knight on c3 is no longer absolutely pinned.

Original teaching diagram

Puzzle 10 Black to move

Black to move · orientation: black

Find the bishop move that pins White’s queen to the king.

Show / hide hint

Look at the diagonal b4–c3–d2–e1. Can a black bishop enter that line?

Show / hide answer

Correct move: 1... Bb4!

Continuation: Source continuation: 2. O-O Bxc3, and Black takes the queen.

The bishop moves from e7 to b4 and attacks the white queen on c3. The white king on e1 is behind the queen, so the queen cannot leave the b4–e1 pin line while the king remains on e1. In the source continuation, White castles and Black then captures the queen.

Exercise derived from ChessGo Easiest sample PDF, position 3

Short review / exit questions

1. Which three pieces can create a line pin?
Bishop, rook and queen.

2. What makes an absolute pin “absolute”?
Moving the pinned piece would expose its king to check, so that move is illegal.

3. In a relative pin, is the pinned piece legally allowed to move?
Yes, but moving usually exposes a more valuable piece behind it.

4. Name one way to break a pin.
Capture the pinning piece, block the line, or move the king/valuable target off the line when legal.

60-minute lesson plan

Time	Phase	What to do
0–6 min	Review	Bishop/rook/queen move on lines; quick piece-value check.
6–18 min	Teach the idea	Definition, absolute vs relative pin, recognition routine; Examples 1–4.
18–30 min	Build pattern library	Examples 5–10. Students identify attacker, pinned piece and target aloud.
30–37 min	Guided recognition	Coach shows 3–4 boards again with labels hidden; students use LINE → MIDDLE → BEHIND → USE IT.
37–52 min	Exercises	Puzzles 1–7 first; move to 8–10 if ready. Require a spoken reason before moving a piece.
52–58 min	Pin hunt mini-game	Play from a normal start or a coach-set position. Pause when a genuine pin appears; identify whether it is absolute or relative.
58–60 min	Exit check	Ask the four review questions; note one student misconception for next week.

Coaching guidance: Require the student to say the three-piece chain before accepting a solution: “attacker — pinned piece — target.” If a child says a piece is pinned, ask what happens if it moves. This separates a real pin from a piece that merely looks awkward.

Sources and provenance

ChessGo — Pin Puzzles — Pin Chess Puzzles
https://www.chessgo.in/puzzles/pin
Used for: Preferred puzzle source; the site describes pin-themed printable puzzle sheets and links a sample PDF.
ChessGo — Easiest sample PDF — Pin Puzzles — Easiest difficulty sample PDF
https://www.chessgo.in/pdf/Pin_puzzles_Easiest_difficulty_ChessGo.in.pdf
Used for: Exercise 10 is redrawn from source position 3; the PDF coordinate line clearly begins ...e7-b4, e1-g1. The follow-up capture on c3 was checked against the published board and verified for legality.
FIDE — Chess for Refugees Curriculum — Lesson Twenty: Simple Tactics
https://www.fide.com/docs/presentations/Curriculum%20Chess%20for%20Refugees.pdf
Used for: Worked Examples 5 and 6 are redrawn/adapted from the relative-pin Sveshnikov position after 7.Bg5 and the absolute-pin Nimzo-Indian position after 3...Bb4. The curriculum also suggests asking how to break a pin.
ChessKid — Pin in Chess
https://www.chesskid.com/learn/terms/pin-chess
Used for: Concept wording adapted: a pinned piece sits in front of a more valuable target; absolute and relative pins are distinguished.
ChessKid — The Piercing Pin
https://www.chesskid.com/learn/articles/the-piercing-pin
Used for: Concept adapted: bishops, rooks and queens create pins along diagonals, files or ranks; the lesson sequence moves from recognition to exploitation.
Chess.com — Pin — Chess Terms
https://www.chess.com/terms/pin-chess
Used for: Cross-check for the standard definition and the distinction between a pin and a skewer.

Provenance note. Unless an item is explicitly marked as redrawn/adapted or derived from a source position, the chess diagram is original to this package. Source screenshots were not embedded.