The Middle Game of Chess

The middle game refers to the period of the game after you’ve established your opening position. During the middle game, your goal is to capture more of your opponent’s pieces than your opponent captures of yours. To achieve this goal, you will have to be able to attack your opponent’s pieces and defend your own.

Occasionally, you may be able to capture a piece easily because your opponent fails to see that one of his or her pieces is under attack and doesn’t defend it in time. More often, you’ll have to use attacking tactics that force your opponent into difficult positions that ensure you’ll be able to capture his or her pieces.

A fork is a simultaneous attack on two or more of your opponent’s pieces by one of your pieces. Even if your opponent defends one of these pieces, you’ll still be able to capture another one.

In the example here, the white knight forks the black king and queen by moving to d6. In this scenario, black must move the king out of check, after which white captures the queen. Notice that this capture is forced—white wins the queen, no matter what black does.

A discovered attack occurs when one of your pieces masks an attack by another of your pieces. When you move the first piece, the attack by the second is revealed. Like the fork, the discovered attack attacks multiple enemy pieces at once—both the piece you move and the attack you reveal can attack multiple enemy pieces.

In the discovered attack shown here, white moves its bishop to f4 to attack black’s knight. Moving the bishop also reveals an attack by white’s rook at e1. Black now has a knight and bishop under attack simultaneously. Only one piece can be saved, so black must lose either the knight or the bishop.

A pin occurs when one of your pieces attacks a piece that has a stronger piece behind it. Since moving the weaker piece out of the way would expose the stronger piece to attack, the weaker piece is trapped, or pinned, by the attacking piece. The pinned piece may then be captured. Only the queen, rook, and bishop can pin another piece, because only those pieces can move in an extended straight line.

In the scenario shown here, white pins black’s queen by moving the white bishop to c5—the black queen can’t move out of the bishop’s line of attack because doing so would expose the king. The black queen can capture the bishop with Qxc5, but white can recapture with its pawn (bxc5). No matter what, white gets to trade a bishop for a queen. This example is helpful because it shows that your attacking piece must be defended by another of your pieces in some pinning situations. For instance, if white tried to pin black using the bishop but without the pawn, the black queen would just take the bishop.

A skewer is an attack in which one of your pieces attacks a piece that has a weaker piece behind it. When the stronger piece moves out of the way of the attack, the weaker piece behind it is captured. Only the queen, rook, and bishop can skewer another piece.

In the example shown here, the rook moves to g1, forcing the black king to move out of check and exposing the black rook to attack. No matter where the black king moves, the white rook captures the black rook at g8. Black has no way of preventing the capture of the rook.

Your opponent may use some of his or her pieces to defend other pieces. Removing the defender involves attacking a defending piece and forcing it to move. This leaves the defended piece vulnerable to attack so that it may be captured safely.

In the following example, the black knight is defending the black bishop. Though the white rook is threatening the black bishop, if it captures the bishop, it will be captured in turn by the black knight.

By making the move g4, white threatens the black knight with a pawn. To avoid capture, the black knight must move to another square, leaving the black bishop defenseless. On the next turn, white can play Rxd4, capturing the unprotected bishop. Alternatively, black can elect to move the bishop, and white can play gxf5 and capture the knight.

Removing the defender is more complicated than the other forms of attack, but there are many opportunities to use it. Whenever your opponent defends one piece with another, look for ways to attack the defending piece. Mastering this tactic is a hallmark of an intermediate to advanced player.

Just as you’ll be attacking your opponent’s pieces during the middle game of a chess match, your opponent will be attacking yours. There are a number of defensive tactics that you can use to ward off attacks.

To withdraw a piece means to move a piece that is under attack to safety. Withdrawal is often the best defensive tactic to use if your opponent attacks a stronger piece of yours with a weaker piece. Though you might think intuitively that the stronger piece should be able to take the weaker piece, doing so will result in an unfavorable trade.

In the sequence pictured here, the white pawn at e5 is attacking the black bishop at f6. The bishop could just take the pawn, but then white would respond by taking the bishop with the white pawn at d4. Black’s better move is to withdraw the bishop to e7.

The defensive tactic of guarding means protecting an attacked piece with another of your pieces in order to capture the attacking piece, should it take your piece. This tactic will work only if your piece that’s being attacked is of lesser or equal value to the piece attacking it. If your opponent then decides to capture your piece, you can capture the enemy piece and get a favorable trade.

In the scenario shown here, the black bishop at c8 is attacking the white knight at f5. By moving the white pawn to e4, white guards the knight. Then, if black captures the knight with the bishop, white will respond by capturing the bishop with the pawn.

When a piece is attacked, it may be possible to move another piece between the attacked piece and the enemy. This blocking maneuver is called interposition. Only attacks by a bishop, rook, or queen may be interposed.

In the example shown here, black’s queen has the white king in check at c1. By moving the rook to e1, white blocks the check. Note that this move is effective only because the rook at e1 is defended by the knight at f3. If, for instance, the white rook had been on the d file instead of the e file, moving the rook to the 1st rank would have been ineffective—the black queen would just take the rook.

Sometimes, the best defense is a good offense. Responding to an attack with an attack of your own is called counterattack. For a counterattack to be effective, your attack must be at least as threatening as your opponent’s. When feasible, counterattack is often the least expected and most forceful tactic.

In the example shown here, the black bishop at b6 has the white rook at f2 pinned. However, rather than focus on its rook, white can counterattack by taking the pawn at g7 with the white queen, which results in checkmate.