The Overloaded Piece
Part of the Tactics section of Coddy's Chess journey. Lesson 26 of 48.
You have hunted pieces nobody defends; now attack the defenders themselves. A piece doing two jobs at once is overloaded - solid-looking right up to the moment you make it choose. Attack one job and, whichever it saves, you win the other. Attack the job whose loss hurts more.
Try it yourselfBeginner
Position 1 of 6
WatchOne queen, two jobs. Watch her choose.
The starting position.
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All 6 positions
All lessons in Tactics
1Free Pieces
Hanging PiecesCounting AttackersGood Trades, Bad TradesIs It Safe?Puzzles: Take What Is FreeRecap: Free Pieces2The Fork
One Move, Two ThreatsKnight ForksPawn and Queen ForksSeeing Forks ComingPuzzles: Fork Hunt 1Puzzles: Fork Hunt 2Recap: The Fork5Removing the Defender
The Overloaded PieceCapture the DefenderDeflectionPuzzles: Guard DutyRecap: Removing Defenders