Chess Tactics Trivia Quiz

Answer: Try to promote a pawn

Pawn promotion almost always occurs during the endgame, although in the middlegame it might be an important thing for players to consider (which move gives me the best opportunity to promote my pawns later on?).

However, almost all strategies in chess are just rules of thumb - in the case of pawn promotion in the opening, the remarkable Lasker Trap features a pawn being promoted (to a knight) on the seventh move.

Castling, moving your center pawns forwards (usually one or two squares) and bringing your knight out are all good ideas in the opening. Bishops are also good pieces to develop early on.

Answer: Pin a piece

A pin is when a piece threatens to capture one of the opponent's pieces if another of the opponent's pieces moves out of the way. For instance, a white bishop might be on the same diagonal as the black king, but a black knight is in the way; the knight is pinned, and in this case it cannot move out of the way or black would be in check.

Knights cannot create a pin, as their L-shaped moves do not make it possible for a valuable piece to be 'hiding' behind a less valuable one. Kings and pawns are also unable to pin other pieces, as they only move one space at a time (and even when the pawn can move forward two spaces this cannot create a pin).

Knights create a fork when they threaten two pieces at once. Most dangerously, the knight will check the king while attacking a queen (a "royal fork"), so that the king has to move away and the knight can then capture the queen. Additionally, it commonly occurs with two rooks, or with other powerful pieces.

Forks are not limited to knights; pawn forks are a good tactic to employ, and technically any piece can perform a fork.

Answer: You will put yourself in zugzwang.

"Zugzwang" is a German term referring to a situation where every legal move a player has is poor; it literally means "compulsion to move", as the player will have to do something even though they will end up in a worse position.

A sacrifice is when a player deliberately gives their opponent the opportunity to capture a piece, in return for a potential advantage. Sometimes sacrifices resulting in easily regained material or quick forced mates can be called "sham sacrifices", because there is no real danger or possibility that the sacrifice won't work. A sacrifice at the beginning of the game, especially a famous or widely used opening, is called a "gambit".

Real sacrifices, on the other hand, usually result in the player having less "material" (pieces) for a while, or even the rest of the game, but if they are used well, the player will be in a better position - for instance, they may have more opportunities to develop their pieces or be able to attack the opponent's king.

Answer: Castling

There are three ways to get out of check: (1) move your king to safety; (2) interpose a piece (put it in your attacker's way to the king); (3) capture the attacking piece.

Capturing a piece with your king could be an example of the first (and sometimes, also the third) method; capturing by en passant (a special type of pawn capture) could by an example of the third (or second); promoting a pawn could be an example of the second.

However, under no circumstances can you castle while in check, as one of the criteria for castling is that your king is not in check, and would not pass through any squares where it would be in check.

Answer: Knight

The knight's unique L-shaped move means that it will always alternate colours. The knight can be the most unpredictable piece on the board because of its strange movement, but its alternation of colour can give some clues about what the knight can and cannot do; for instance, if your king is on a white square and the opponent's knight is on a black square, the knight will not be able to put you in check when it next moves, as it will move to a white square and from there, can only attack black squares.

The bishop will always stay on the same colour it started on. The pawn alternates colours when it moves forwards one square, but if it captures or moves forwards two squares, its square colour will remain the same.

Answer: Passed pawn

A passed pawn is where there are no pawns of the opponent's colour on the same file (column) or on either of the adjacent files that could still block or attack it. This puts the pawn in an excellent position where it is likely to be able to promote, if it is well protected and threats from opposing pieces such as rooks and kings can be dealt with.

Doubled pawns are two pawns that are on the same file. They are usually a weakness, as they cannot protect each other, one pawn is stuck behind the other, and a rook cannot protect both pawns. If three pawns are on the same file, they are tripled pawns, and this is an even greater weakness. In theory, up to sextupled pawns (six on a file) are possible, but no sensible game would ever lead to that; however, even quadrupled pawns have occurred in games with grandmasters.

An isolated pawn does not have any same-coloured pawns on the adjacent files, so it is hard to protect. Sometimes, a couple of isolated pawns are not a problem, but especially towards the endgame they can be a weakness.

A backward pawn is one which is furthest back out of all a player's pawns, but cannot be moved forwards (e.g. because an opponent's pawn would capture it). It is hard to defend, by definition unable to advance any further and not a very strong piece.

Answer: Two bishops on opposite coloured squares

The most common values given to pieces, as a rough idea of their strength are: queen = 9; rook = 5; bishop = knight = 3; pawn = 1. (The king is not traditionally given a value as it cannot be captured.) All of the answer options had 6 points worth of material.

However, chess is never this simple. In this case, if one has a "bishop pair" (two bishops on opposite coloured squares), they are worth more than six points. Some chess engines give them an extra half a point. By working together, these two bishops can focus on attacking an area of the board very effectively; they work best in the middlegame or endgame when the opponent's more powerful pieces have nowhere to hide.

Answer: Pawn

Pawns cannot be promoted to pawns or kings. Interestingly, before about 1900 it used to be legal to promote a pawn to a pawn.

Underpromotion - promoting to a piece that is not a queen - is very rare in actual gameplay, but in chess problems it is a fairly common tactic. Despite the fact that 99 times out of 100, a queen is best, there are quite a variety of reasons one might wish to underpromote.

The most common case of underpromotion is when stalemate would occur otherwise (your opponent would not be able to move, so it would be a draw). The knight's move cannot be duplicated by the queen, so sometimes knight promotions are advantageous if they immediately put the king in check or create a fork. There are also more bizarre reasons to underpromote, like to cause stalemate on purpose from a losing position.

Answer: King and two bishops vs king

It is possible to force checkmate with two bishops and a king.

If a player has no legal moves (and is not in check), the game ends in "stalemate", a type of draw. This could be the result of carelessness when one player dominates the board against a lone king, but forgets to leave their opponent a valid move; with more experienced players, it might be because the person in a losing position sacrificed their pieces to put themselves in stalemate, and avoid a loss.

To prevent games carrying on forever, two forms of draws stop the game when it is clear no progress is being made. Threefold repetition is when the same position occurs three times on the same player's move, although in most competitive play the draw is not mandatory - either player can choose to declare the game a draw on their turn, or carry on playing. The fifty moves rule is rare to be invoked; if fifty consecutive moves (each player having fifty turns) pass without a piece being captured, or a pawn being moved forward, either player can claim a draw.

The other types of draws are: draws by mutual agreement, and insufficient material (e.g. two kings are left with no other pieces). Perpetual check (one player puts the other player in check over and over again, and the other player cannot escape) often leads to a draw, either by repetition or via the fifty-move rule but is not a condition for drawing itself.

Answer: Knight

In smothered mate, the losing king is trapped by its own pieces on all sides, unable to move, and so the only threat from the opponent can come from a knight, as it can jump over pieces.

Smothered mate almost always happens in a corner of the board, or at least on the back rank (row), as there are fewer squares around the king that need to be occupied by pieces. It often features a queen sacrifice, or some other sham sacrifice of material by the winning player, to force their opponent to surround their king with pieces.