The Skewer
A skewer is a pin with the pieces the other way round: the valuable one is in front, it is attacked, and when it moves you take whatever was hiding behind it.
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A skewer is a pin with the pieces swapped round.
In a pin, the valuable piece is behind and the front one cannot move. In a skewer, the valuable piece is in front: it is attacked, it has to move, and whatever was standing behind it is now yours.
Black's king is on e5 and the queen on a5 - the same rank.
The black king and queen share the fifth rank. Your rook is on h1. Attack them both along it.
Notice what the check does. Black is not allowed to leave the king where it is, so there is no defending the queen, no counter-attack, no clever in-between move. That is why the strongest skewers have the enemy king in front.
Pin and skewer, side by side
| in front | behind | what happens | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pin | the cheap piece | the valuable one | the front piece is stuck and cannot move |
| skewer | the valuable piece | anything | the front piece must move and the back one falls |
The three pieces that can skewer are exactly the three that can pin - queen, rook, bishop - because both tactics need a piece that attacks along a whole line. There is no such thing as a knight skewer.
Find the square yourself
The black king on c6 and the queen on a8 are on one diagonal. Tap the square your bishop can check from.
a6 is worth dwelling on. Attacking the queen first gives her a move to
escape with. The whole art of the skewer is hitting the piece you do not want
last.
Where skewers actually happen
Almost always in the endgame, and almost always on a nearly empty board, for one reason: a skewer needs a long clear line, and in the middlegame there is usually something standing on it.
- King and queen on one diagonal - the reason to keep them apart even when nothing is attacking either of them.
- King and rook on one rank, with your own rook able to check along it. This is how a great many rook endings are decided.
- Two rooks on a file with your queen able to check the king in front.
The defence is a habit rather than a calculation: when the board empties out, look at the lines your king shares with your other pieces, and step off them before somebody arrives.
The fork hits two pieces on two lines; the pin and the skewer hit two on one line. Those three shapes are most of the material that changes hands in a game of chess.
Try it
King on c6, queen on a8, one diagonal. Play the skewer.
Common questions
- What is a skewer in chess?
- An attack along a line where the more valuable piece is in front and something else is directly behind it. The front piece is attacked, it moves away because it has to, and the piece behind it is now attacked and undefended. It is often called an x-ray attack, because you are really attacking through one piece at another.
- What is the difference between a pin and a skewer?
- Only which piece is in front. In a pin the valuable piece is behind and the front piece is stuck; in a skewer the valuable piece is in front and is forced to move, exposing what was behind. Same line, same three pieces, opposite order - and opposite result: a pin freezes, a skewer wins material immediately.
- Is a skewer stronger than a pin?
- It usually wins material faster. A pin creates a target you still have to attack again; a skewer collects straight away, because the front piece must move and the back piece cannot be defended into safety. What makes the pin more common is that it happens by accident far more often.
- Which pieces can skewer?
- The queen, the rook and the bishop - the same three that can pin, and for the same reason: you need a piece that attacks along a whole line. A knight, a pawn and a king attack individual squares, so there is no line for anything to hide behind.
- What is an absolute skewer?
- One where the front piece is the king. Then the front piece does not merely want to move - it is in check and has no choice, so whatever stands behind it is lost with no defence available. Skewering a king and a queen on one diagonal is the single most valuable shape in this tactic.
- How do you avoid being skewered?
- Keep your king and queen, and your king and rooks, off the same rank, file and diagonal - especially in the endgame, when there are no pieces left to block with. Almost every skewer that decides a game happens on an empty board, where a bishop or rook can suddenly see the whole line.
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