Chess Basics: Remove the Guard

Another chess tactic students can use to win material is removal of the guard, sometimes referred to as decoying or undermining. This tactic sees a player identify a target piece they’d like to capture, then disable or capture its defender, leaving the target piece unprotected and available to take without consequence on a subsequent turn. 

Let’s explore how to identify target pieces and their guards and successfully remove them from the chess board. 

Removing the Guard

In the position below, White has three possible captures: the rook on a3, the knight on a7, and the pawn on f7. These are shown with red arrows, while each piece’s defender is indicated by a blue arrow:

Capturing the a7 knight or f7 pawn would result in a bad trade and lose points for White. Taking the rook on a3, however, would lead to an even trade and leave the a7 knight unprotected:

Once the knight’s guard has been removed, White can capture it on their next turn, picking up three points.

In this next example, White will once again go for an even trade to end up with a three point gain:

After the players trade queens, White can capture the bishop on a3 and put the e3 knight under pressure. 

Some guards don’t even need to be taken off of the board to be rendered powerless – they just need to be distracted. In the position below, Black sees a way to use a second tactic (a pin) to win a major piece:

They move their rook to d1 to deliver check, forcing White to block with their bishop. In doing so, the bishop becomes stuck in an absolute pin and can no longer defend the queen on h4, which allows Black to take it for free.