Chess Pin

What is a Pin in Chess?

Imagine a bodyguard standing between a sniper and a VIP. The bodyguard can't step aside—that would expose the person they're protecting. In chess, the pinned piece is that bodyguard.

A pin happens when three pieces line up: your attacking piece, an enemy piece in the middle, and a valuable target hiding behind it. The middle piece is stuck. It's either illegal to move (if the target is the king) or a terrible idea (if the target is the queen or rook).

Only bishops, rooks, and queens can create pins—they're the pieces that attack in straight lines across the board. Knights move in an L-shape and pawns only go forward, so they can't pin anything.

The chess pin tactic shows up constantly. That bishop eyeing your knight? Check what's behind the knight. If it's your king or queen, you've been pinned.

Pinning Pieces in Chess

Your three pinning pieces each work differently:

Bishops pin along diagonals. The classic example: a bishop on g5 pinning a knight on f6 to a queen on d8. You'll see this in countless opening positions.

Rooks pin along ranks and files. A rook on the e-file can pin a piece to a king that hasn't castled yet.

Queens do both—diagonals, ranks, and files. They're flexible but also valuable, so using your queen to create a pin can be risky.

One of chess's most famous openings, the Ruy Lopez, starts with a pin: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. White's bishop immediately pins Black's knight to the king. Players have debated how to handle this pin for over 500 years.

Common Types of Chess Pins

There are two types of pin in chess, and the difference matters for how you play.

Chess Absolute Pin

When the piece hiding behind your pinned piece is the king, you have an absolute pin. The rules of chess say you can never expose your king to capture. Your pinned piece literally cannot move—it's against the law.

Picture this: your knight sits on f6, a bishop attacks it from g5, and your king is on e8. That knight is frozen. You can't move it no matter how badly you want to. It's stuck until you deal with the pin some other way.

Absolute pins are brutal because your opponent knows that piece isn't going anywhere.

Relative Pin in Chess

When the protected piece is valuable but not the king—usually the queen—you have a relative pin. You can move the pinned piece. You just really don't want to.

Same setup, but put a queen on d8 instead of the king on e8. Now the knight can legally hop away. But if it does, your queen gets captured. Most of the time, that's not a trade you want to make.

Here's the twist: sometimes breaking a relative pin is the right move. In the famous Légal Trap, White deliberately moves a pinned knight, lets the queen get taken, and delivers checkmate instead. The queen sacrifice is worth it for the win.

The Importance of Mastering Chess Pin Tactic

Why do strong players love pinning in chess? Because pinned pieces become nearly useless.

A knight normally controls up to eight squares. Pin it, and it controls nothing useful—it's just sitting there, stuck. Your opponent's army effectively shrinks by one piece while you maintain full strength.

Pins also set up winning attacks. Once a piece is pinned, pile on more attackers. A pinned knight defended by one pawn can be attacked by two pawns, then a bishop. Eventually the defenders run out and you win the piece.

Watch for pins that combine with other tactics. A pin can set up a fork, a skewer, or a discovered attack. The best combinations often start with a simple pin.

Ways to Get Out of a Pin (Unpinning)

Getting pinned feels awful, but you have options:

Take the attacker. Can anything capture the piece creating the pin? If their bishop pins your knight and your queen can take that bishop safely, problem solved.

Block the line. Slide another piece between the attacker and your pinned piece. Now the pin is broken. This works especially well if the blocking piece finds a good square anyway.

Move the VIP. If your king or queen steps off the danger line, your pinned piece is free. Castle to safety, or tuck your queen away on a different diagonal.

Create a bigger threat. Sometimes you ignore the pin and threaten something worse—like checkmate. Your opponent has to deal with your threat first, and by then the position may have changed.

Sacrifice through it. Occasionally, accepting the loss unlocks a winning attack. Calculate carefully. If losing your queen means delivering mate in three moves, take that deal.

The best response depends on the position. Sometimes you endure a pin for several moves while you improve your other pieces. Other times you need to break it immediately before your opponent piles on more pressure.

Chess Pin: The Final Note

Pins win games. They freeze enemy pieces, create attacking chances, and combine with other tactics to deliver knockout blows. Learn to spot them—both when you can create one and when you're about to walk into one.

Start looking for pins in your own games. Before you move a piece, glance at what's behind it. Is your opponent's bishop staring at that diagonal? Check if you're lining up your pieces in a dangerous way.