Pin: tied down and free again

In short

Every pin involves three pieces: the pinning piece, the pinned piece and the piece behind. All three stand on a file, a rank or a diagonal. The piece behind is usually the king or the queen.

Nimzowitsch distinguishes two kinds. A piece is fully pinned if it cannot make any move without giving up the piece behind it. It is half pinned if it can still move along the line towards the attacker. A pinned knight is therefore always fully pinned.

A pin can weaken protection. Still check whether the pinned piece can capture your piece. Your king may not enter a square controlled by an enemy piece, even if that piece is absolutely pinned. An extra attack, often with a pawn, can put the pinned piece under more pressure.

Your opponent tries to break the pin. In the opening Nimzowitsch names four ways: chasing the attacker away, accepting the threat, bringing up reinforcements or waiting. In the middle of the fight a protected piece that steps in between often helps. Or the piece behind moves off the line.

For Nimzowitsch the pin is more than a quick trick. A pin that you plan from the start can shape the whole game. Even the threat of a pin often tempts the opponent into weakening pawn moves. These weaknesses can still be felt in the endgame.

Summarized by the editors in their own words. This is not a quotation.

Questioning: is the pawn attack worth it?

If a bishop pins your knight, attacking the bishop with a pawn is the obvious idea. Nimzowitsch calls this questioning. But to do it you push pawns in front of your king, and that loosens your position. It is only worth it if you get something in return.

That is often the case if the bishop, once chased away, ends up on a square where it achieves nothing. But this only holds as long as the opponent cannot open the middle. That is why, for Nimzowitsch, questioning is basically a question of the center.

In the game against Leonhardt, Nimzowitsch only drives away a pinning bishop once the middle is firmly closed. Before that, the pawn attack would have come too early.

To play through

In Lesson 13 you attack a pinned piece with a pawn. Lesson 14 shows a close relative of the pin: the discovered check.

Against Rubinstein, Nimzowitsch keeps up a pin for many moves until both white knights have fallen. Watch how White tries in vain to break free.

Today’s view

Today the pin counts as one of the most important tactical motifs. It is usually classified by the piece behind: if the king stands there, it is called an absolute pin. Nimzowitsch’s division into full and half pins looks instead at the pinned piece itself.

Before every attack on a pinned piece, check whether your opponent can break the pin in time. Sometimes a king move or a counter-attack is enough.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 7. Kapitel - Der gefesselte Stein original text not yet published

  Overview of the chapter on the pinned piece, with all its sections, games and a short outline.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.1 Einleitung und Allgemeines. Taktik oder Strategie. Über die mögliche Wiedereinschaltung eines ausgeschaltet gewesenen Fesselungsmotives. Das Gleichnis vom entfesselten Freibauern original text not yet published

  Why the pin is an element of strategy, and how even a pin that has disappeared can still have an effect.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.2 Der Begriff des ganz und der des halbgefesselten Steines original text not yet published

  The three pieces of a pin, fully and half pinned pieces, and the attack with a pawn.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3 Das Problem der Entfesselung original text not yet published

  How a pinned piece gets free again, with an overview of the options in an opening position.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3a Das Befragen original text not yet published

  When it is worth driving away a pinning bishop with pawns, and why that is a question of the center.

• My System: I. Teil, Partien zur Fesselung original text not yet published

  Games on the pin, including Nimzowitsch – Leonhardt and Rubinstein – Nimzowitsch.

In the course

• A piece that cannot move
• A move opens an attack
• Nimzowitsch – Leonhardt, San Sebastián 1911
• Rubinstein – Nimzowitsch, Marienbad 1925