Attack & Defense

A piece is said to attack another piece if it moves so that on its next move he could capture the other piece. In the following diagram, White could attack Black's Bishop by moving his Rook to d1 or to e6.

A piece is said to defend or to protect another piece if it moves so that in case the other piece is captured by a hostile piece, it could recapture the latter. In Diagram 5, Black could defend his Bishop by moving his Knight to either e4 or e8 in case White attacks with the Rook from d1. If White attacks from e6, then Black would not defend the Bishop with the Knight because on e4 as well as on e8 the Knight is unprotected and could be captured by the Rook without White losing anything in exchange. Black has a much more simple way to defend the attack of the Rook from e6 by capturing the Rook with the pawn on f7. For this reason, White would not have moved the Rook to e6.

Back to Chess Tutorials

© 2008 Supreme Chess