Tactic · beginner
Hanging Pieces in chess
Black's knight on d4 has no defender. Grab it.
touch_appSolve them yourself. A wrong move gets explained, not just marked wrong.
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What a hanging piece is
Black's knight on d4 has no defender. Grab it.
2 puzzles, solved
Take the free knight (beginner, White to move)add
Black's knight on d4 has no defender. Grab it. Solution: 5.Qxd4. Qxd4 wins a whole knight. Nothing defends d4 (no pawn on c5 or e5), so the capture is free.
The loose rook (beginner, White to move)add
Look across the whole board: a piece is hanging far away. Solution: 1.Qxb7. Qxb7 wins a whole rook. Long moves along files and diagonals are the easiest to miss, so scan the whole board.
How to spot it in your games
- Something is undefended. Find it.
- Which of your pieces attacks the knight on d4?
- Look all the way up the b-file.
When players miss it: "Leaving pieces hanging"
When the coach analyses your games, missed hanging pieces are counted under "Leaving pieces hanging". Before every move, run a blunder check: after my move, what can my opponent capture? Is that piece defended?