Attacking in Chess – The Attack Chess Move

A chess piece is said to attack or threaten an opposing piece if, in its next move, it could capture that piece. A chess piece is said to protect or defend one of its own pieces if, in case the defended piece were captured by the opponent, the defender could choose to recapture right away. In chess, attacking a piece normally, but not always, forces the opponent to respond if the attacked chess piece was left undefended, or if the attacking chess piece is of lesser value than the attacked one.

When attacked, one has several options. You could try to either capture the attacking piece or try to move the attacked piece. You could consider interposing another piece in between the two pieces in question, or you could guard the attacked piece and therefore permit an exchange. Another option is to pin the attacking chess piece, which causes the capture to becomes illegal or unprofitable

Lastly, during an attack in chess, you can consider using a zwischenzug. Zwischenzug is a German term, which means intermediate move. It is a common chess tactic in which a chess player, instead of playing the expected chess move first interpolates another move, posing an immediate threat that the opponent must answer, and then plays the expected move. The expected move is usually a recapture of a chess piece that the opponent has just captured.

Discovered Chess Attack

In chess, a discovered attack is an attack that is revealed when 1 chess piece moves out of the way of another. You can use discovered attacks to your advantage and they can be extremely powerful. It is so powerful because the moved piece can make a threat separately of the piece it reveals. Like many popular chess tactics, it often succeeds because your opponent is unable to meet more than one threat at a time. While usually the consequence of a discovered attack is the gain of your opponent’s piece, they don’t have to achieve this to be effective; this chess tactic can be utilized just to gain a tempo.

When the moving chess piece gives a check to your opponent's king, the move is often called a discovered attack with check. When the discovered chess attack is itself a check move, it is called a discovered check. If both of the pieces give check, a double-check move results.

In chess discovered attacks, and especially the check variety, can help you win material when the moving chess piece captures an opposing piece nominally protected by another opposing piece. If your opponent moves to deal with the discovered attack, which is obligatory if it is a check, you will have some time to return your moving piece out of its dangerous position. This tactic is often called a discovered attack (or check) with capture.

When you have a moving piece that moves to a square from which it can threaten to perform checkmate on its next move, this chess tactic is often referred to as a discovered attack with mate threat.