Skewer — what it means in chess
A pin in reverse: a valuable piece is attacked and, when it moves, a lesser piece behind it falls.
A pin in reverse: a valuable piece is attacked and, when it moves, a lesser piece behind it falls.
A skewer is a pin turned around. The valuable piece is in front this time — it is attacked, it has to move, and when it steps aside the lesser piece behind it falls. Bishops, rooks, and queens skewer along their lines. If you have ever checked a king and won the rook sitting behind it, you have already played one.
Skewers are the endgame's favorite tactic. Kings and rooks end up on the same file or rank all the time when few pieces are left on the board, and a bishop or rook that finds the right diagonal or line can check the king through to the piece behind it. The pin and the skewer are mirror images of each other — same geometry, opposite order — and it is worth training yourself to see both from the same visual cue. Whenever an enemy king lines up with a rook, a queen, or another valuable piece along a single line, ask whether one of your long-range pieces can enter that line with check.
[[board startfen="7r/6k1/8/8/8/8/8/2B3K1 w - - 0 1" pgn="1. Bb2+ Kf7 2. Bxh8" caption="A skewer: check the king, win the rook lined up behind it." notes="White to move. Bb2+ — the bishop checks the king down the long diagonal, with the rook sitting right behind it on h8. The king must step off the diagonal... ...and the bishop collects the rook. King in front, rook behind: a skewer."]]
The Endgame Society glossary defines more than 240 chess terms — rules, notation, tactics, strategy, pawn structures, endgames, and openings — in language a beginner can act on rather than dictionary shorthand.