The Skewer: Forcing the Big Piece to Step Aside
A skewer attacks a valuable piece that, when it moves out of the way, exposes a less valuable piece standing behind it on the same line.
How a skewer works
A skewer is a pin turned inside out. In a pin the cheaper piece stands in front; in a skewer the more valuable piece stands in front and the cheaper one hides behind it. The front piece has to move, and the attacker captures whatever was behind.
The strongest skewers start with a check. The king must get off the line, and the piece behind it is lost. A skewer of king and queen, or king and rook, frequently ends the game on the spot. Skewers of a queen in front of a rook work the same way, as long as the queen has no safe square that keeps protecting the piece behind.
Like pins, skewers run along lines, so only bishops, rooks and queens can deliver them.
Where skewers appear
Skewers are especially common in endgames. Open boards give long-range pieces clear lines, and kings walk into the centre where they can be checked along ranks and diagonals. A rook check along a rank that also hits an enemy rook on the far side is a typical endgame skewer, and so is a bishop check that runs through the king to a promoting pawn or a rook.
In the middlegame, watch for a king and queen, or queen and rook, lined up on an open file or a long diagonal. If your opponent has just put two big pieces on one line with nothing between them, check whether you can get a piece onto that line with tempo.
Common mistakes
The defender usually misses skewers by putting the king on the same line as a loose piece, often while escaping a check. When your king has to move, look at which squares leave it lined up with your own undefended rook or queen.
The attacker misses them by only looking at what a check attacks directly. After a check, the important question is what sits behind the king. The skewers you miss in your own games are the ones worth drilling.
How to spot it
- Look for enemy pieces lined up on a rank, file or diagonal with nothing between.
- Check whether the front piece is the king or worth more than the back one.
- Find a safe square for your bishop, rook or queen on that line.
- Prefer skewers that come with check.
- Before your own king moves, make sure it will not shield a loose piece.
Try one
Work it out from the diagram first, then play it on the board or open the solution.
fExample 1
Black to move and win the queen.
Show solution
55...Qa3+ 56.Kd4 Qxg3
The white king on c3 and the white queen on g3 share the third rank with nothing between them. Qa3+ checks along that rank, and the rook on c4 cannot block on b3. The king has to leave the rank (Kd4, Kd2 and Kc2 are the only legal moves), and Qxg3 picks up the queen, leaving Black with queen against rook.
Position from a real game, via the Lichess puzzle database.