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Tactic · Improver

Decoy in chess

A decoy (or attraction) is a sacrifice that lures an enemy piece, usually the king, onto a square where it can be attacked.

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touch_appTry it: Sacrifice to drag the enemy king onto a square where it can be mated.

What is a decoy in chess?

A decoy (or attraction) is a sacrifice that lures an enemy piece, usually the king, onto a square where it can be attacked. Once it's there, your next move punishes it, often with checkmate or a fork.

  • Picture the enemy king on a square next to it. Would it be mated or forked there?
  • Look for a capture or check that forces it onto that square.

How it works, step by step

A decoy (also called attraction) lures an enemy piece, usually the king, onto a bad square with a sacrifice. Once it's there, your next move punishes it, often with checkmate.
How to spot it: picture the enemy king on a nearby square. If it would be checkmated there, look for a capture or check that forces it to go there. Here your knight on d6 already covers e8 and f7.

A worked example

Lure the king: White to move. Sacrifice to drag the enemy king onto a square where it can be mated.

Solution: 35.Rxf8+ Kxf8 36.Re8#. Rxf8+! The king has to take, Kxf8, and walks into Re8#. The knight guards e8 and f7, the rook covers e7 and g8, and the g7 pawn blocks the last square.

Ask Wingo why it works

Wingo, our coach, never works out chess moves on its own. Stockfish finds the best line, chess.js writes down the facts of the position, and Wingo's explanation is built from that analysis. This is its real answer for "Lure the king", unedited (a person checked it before it went on this page).

1 · Position + engine

2 · Fact sheet (chess.js + Stockfish)

Side to move: White.
White: king h1, rook e8, rook e1, knight d6, pawn a4, pawn f2.
Black: king g8, rook f8, rook c2, knight f3, pawn g7, pawn h7, pawn a6.
Material: White 15, Black 16 (Black up 1).
Loose/under-defended pieces: White pawn on f2; White rook on e1.
Defenders and attackers (verified):
White rook e8: defended by knight d6, rook e1; attacked by rook f8.
Black rook f8: defended by king g8; attacked by rook e8.
White knight d6: defended by nothing; attacked by nothing.
Black knight f3: defended by rook f8; attacked by nothing.
Black rook c2: defended by nothing; attacked by nothing.
White rook e1: defended by rook e8; attacked by knight f3.
Line-ups (verified geometry): White rook e8 and Black rook f8 are on the 8th rank (nothing between them); White rook e8 and Black king g8 are on the 8th rank (with the rook f8 between them); Black rook f8 and Black king g8 are on the 8th rank (nothing between them); White rook e1 and White king h1 are on the 1st rank (nothing between them).
White's legal moves (32): rook e8: Rxf8+, R8e7, R8e6, R8e5, R8e4, R8e3, R8e2, Rd8, Rc8, Rb8, Ra8; knight d6: Nb7, Nc8, Nf7, Nf5, Ne4, Nc4, Nb5; pawn a4: a5; rook e1: R1e2, R1e3, R1e4, R1e5, R1e6, R1e7, Rf1, Rg1, Rd1, Rc1, Rb1, Ra1; king h1: Kg2.
Engine best line: 35.Rxf8+ Kxf8 36.Re8# — forced mate in 2 for White.
Best move theme: double attack.
After Rxf8+, the opponent's reply is forced (only one legal move).

3 · What the coach said

The key move is Rxf8+. By taking the black rook on f8 you give check, so the black king must capture it – that is the only legal reply. After the king moves to f8, your rook on e1 slides straight up to e8 and delivers checkmate; the black king cannot escape because it is blocked by its own pieces and has no square to run to. What makes it work is the “double attack”: the rook on e8 attacks the black rook on f8 and, at the same time, the rook on e1 is ready to come to e8 once the f‑file piece is gone. The knight on d6 helps by protecting the rook on e8, so the black rook cannot simply capture it without losing. Tip: When you see a piece that can capture an opponent’s piece while also giving check, look to see if that capture forces the king to move onto a square where another of your pieces can finish the job. That “sacrifice to lure the king” often leads to a quick mate.
Engine line: Rxf8+ Kxf8 Re8#. In the app you can ask Wingo about any position, and about your own wrong moves.

Solve decoy puzzles at your level

extension12 decoy puzzles from real games, in three levels. Find the move; a wrong try is explained. No account needed.

Beginner · under 1200

Improver · 1200–1599

Intermediate · 1600+

Puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0), each checked by Stockfish.

Do you miss decoys in your own games?

Our mistake finder checks your recent games with Stockfish and lists the 3 mistakes you repeat most. Missed decoys are counted under "Missing forks and double attacks". Every mistake it finds becomes a puzzle from your own game, so you practise exactly the positions you got wrong.

Check my Chess.com gamesarrow_forwardEnter your username. Free, about a minute.Check my Lichess gamesarrow_forwardEnter your username. Free, about a minute.Check my Wings Chess gamesarrow_forwardUses the games you play here, after 5 games.

Use it in a real game

Puzzles tell you a decoy is there. In a game nobody does. Play Blaze, one of our bots that think at a human pace and make human mistakes, and look for the pattern yourself. The coach can point it out afterwards if you miss it.

Play Blaze (1300)arrow_forwardAll-out attacker. Sacrifices first, asks questions later.About Blazearrow_forwardHow this bot plays, and tips to beat it.

Train this in the app

Lesson: Lure the kingarrow_forwardSacrifice to drag the enemy king onto a square where it can be mated. With hints, stars and your progress saved.Endless decoy puzzlesarrow_forwardRated puzzles on this theme at your level, plus puzzles made from your own mistakes.

Keep going

Deflectionarrow_forwardDeflection is forcing an enemy piece away from an important job, usually with a check or a capture it has to answer.Removing the Defenderarrow_forwardRemoving the defender means capturing (or chasing away) the one piece that protects something important.Double Checkarrow_forwardA double check is when two pieces give check at the same moment, usually through a discovered check.Opening: French Defensearrow_forwardAs Black, build a solid e6–d5 chain and attack White's center.