![]() I would prefer to use it whenever the King is the middle unit. Although both terms are uncommon in the literature, the term Absolute Skewer came to my attention only recently. ![]() The ROYAL SKEWER is a more colorful name for the Absolute Skewer. Kasparov vs Lutikov 1978 and Short vs Vaganian 1989 have the Absolute Skewer tactic. Since the King is being attacked, the first law of chess must apply and the three possible responses to check must be carefully thought about. An ABSOLUTE SKEWER occurs when the King is in front and any other chessman sits behind that King. There are two other special cases for the Skewer. The material was even for both sides, before the Balanced Skewer was made! Here is that winning position: One that is not available yet at CG is Gurevich, Mikhail vs Garcia Ilundain, David 1995, 32 moves, 1-0 that has two Rooks being skewered. A few games with this particular form of the Skewer tactic are provided here. My point is that they are so close in value that Balanced Skewer should still apply when the defenders are Knight and Bishop. To wit, some chess writers will give 3-1/2 points or 3-1/4 points for the Bishop. The BALANCED SKEWER is my own term for these special cases, in spite of the fact that the Bishop and Knight may have differing values. The chessmen attacked in the front and back are equal, then. The name Skewer is also used when the two defending chessmen are the same kind (two Rooks, for example) or have the same value (such as a Knight and Bishop). See my game collection X-Ray Tactic- OTB Examples for more details. Further, the Skewer has one unit actually attacking both pieces, whereas the X-Ray has two pieces attacking just one piece. However, the Skewer can only be an attack, never a defense, while the X-Ray tactic can be either offensive or defensive. Only a few players try to use the term X-Ray tactic as a synonym for Skewer. This double threat has lacked a good descriptive name. The attacking piece threatens two units, one behind the other, on the same rank, file or diagonal. This third chessman is being indirectly attacked.Įdward Winter cites Kenneth Harkness as having written in the April 1947 issue of the CHESS REVIEW that: There is another type of double attack in which the targets are threatened in one direction. ![]() Thus, when the big one moves out of the way, the little one is taken.Īnother way of looking at the arrangement is to say that you have three pieces lined up, an attacker against one defender directly and a second defender at the rear. This tactic is an in-line operation where a chessman of higher value is being attacked while a chessman of lower value is behind it. One of the most basic and truly essential chess tactics to learn is the Skewer.
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