Coach delivery notes
Week 6 — Pin · Coaching notes
Lesson objectives
- Recognize absolute and relative pins.
- Identify the three components: pinning piece, pinned piece, valuable target.
- Exploit a pin by capturing, adding pressure, or using a pinned defender.
- Break a pin by blocking, capturing the attacker, or moving the valuable target when legal.
Prerequisite knowledge
Students should know legal piece movement, check, basic capture rules, castling, and rough piece values. They should recognize that bishops, rooks and queens are long-range “line” pieces.
Key teaching language
Use: “Trace the line.” “Who is in the middle?” “What is behind it?” “Can the middle piece legally move?” “How can we use the fact that it is stuck?”
Avoid: treating every attack on a piece as a pin. A true pin needs a more important target behind the attacked piece on the same line.
Avoid: treating every attack on a piece as a pin. A true pin needs a more important target behind the attacked piece on the same line.
Topic-specific recognition routine
LINEBishop diagonal, rook rank/file, or queen line.
MIDDLEOne enemy piece is attacked first.
BEHINDKing or more valuable piece is on the same line.
USE ITCapture, add pressure, or create another forcing threat.
Suggested 60-minute schedule
| 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. |
How to present the visual examples
- Cover the explanation at first and show only the board.
- Ask the child to trace a finger from attacker to target.
- Ask: “What happens if the middle piece moves?”
- Only then name the pattern: absolute or relative pin.
- For Examples 7–10, ask for the next practical action: add pressure, take advantage of a pinned defender, or break the pin.
Common student mistakes
- Calling any attacked piece pinned. Fix: demand a piece behind it on the same line.
- Forgetting that relative pins do not make movement illegal. Fix: ask whether the king or a non-king target is behind.
- Assuming a pinned piece cannot defend anything. A pinned piece may still attack squares; what it may legally do depends on the king line.
- Ignoring ways to break the pin. Ask whether the attacker can be captured, the line blocked, or the target moved.
- Stopping after finding the pin. Ask “How do we use it?” to connect recognition with material gain.
Questions the coach should ask
- Which piece is doing the pinning?
- Which piece is in the middle?
- What valuable piece is behind it?
- If the middle piece moves, is that illegal or merely expensive?
- Can we add another attacker?
- Can the defender break the line?
Age-specific coaching advice
For ages 8–10, keep calculation short and visual. Ask for one complete sentence before each move: “This piece is pinned because …” Use physical pointing on a real board. Correct the geometry first, then the notation.
Differentiation
| Student level | Adjustment |
|---|---|
| Needs support | Use Examples 1–4 and Puzzles 1–5 only at first. Mark attacker/pinned/target squares with three physical tokens on a real board. |
| On level | Complete all 10 puzzles with hints available after 45–60 seconds. |
| Advanced | Before revealing the answer, ask for the defender’s best attempt to break the pin and whether the tactic still works. |
Follow-up / homework ideas
- Find three pins in the student’s own games and label each absolute or relative.
- Play a 10-minute game and stop once per side when a pin appears; explain whether it is useful or cosmetic.
- Redo Puzzles 6–10 without hints after 24–48 hours.
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.