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  • Lesson 23 of 32
  • More tactics
  • 3 min

Discovered Attack in Chess: Unmask a Hidden Attacker

In a discovered attack, one piece moves and another attacks. The piece that moves is a mask: take it away, and a rook, bishop or queen behind it suddenly has an open line. If the piece that moves makes a threat of its own, your opponent faces two at once and can answer only one.

Step 1 of 4

  1. The mask

    Your rook on d1 would attack the black queen on d8, but your own bishop on d3 stands in the way. The moment the bishop moves, the rook's attack is discovered. But once the bishop moves, the queen attacks your rook as well, so the bishop must move with a threat Black has to answer first. Here it can take the pawn on h7 with check.

  2. Discovered attack with check

    Take the h7 pawn with your bishop. It's check, so Black has to deal with the king first, and next move your rook takes the queen.

    Your move

    Win the black queen.

  3. Two targets

    No check this time. The bishop on e4 stands between your rook on e1 and the black queen on e6. Move it so that it attacks something as well: Black can't save the queen and a second target with one move.

    Your move

    Uncover the attack on the queen with a bishop move that makes a second threat, then collect.

  4. A trap from the opening

    This happens in real games. After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nxe4?! 4.Qe2 Nf6??, your queen and the black king stand on the open e-file with only your knight on e5 between them. Every knight move is a discovered check. Find the one that also attacks the queen.

    Your move

    Win the black queen with a discovered check.

What you learned

  • A discovered attack: one piece moves, and the piece behind it attacks.
  • Move the front piece with a threat of its own, ideally check, so the opponent can't meet both.
  • A discovered check gives the opponent no time: the king comes first, and the other threat lands.
  • Without check, the front piece needs a threat of its own; otherwise the opponent just moves the attacked piece away.

In this course

Unit 1The pieces

  1. The Chessboard and How to Set Up the Pieces
  2. How the Rook Moves in Chess
  3. How the Bishop Moves in Chess
  4. How the Queen Moves in Chess
  5. How the King Moves in Chess
  6. How the Knight Moves in Chess
  7. How Pawns Move and Capture in Chess
  8. Chess Piece Values: What Each Piece Is Worth

Unit 2Special moves

  1. What Is Check in Chess, and How to Get Out of It
  2. How to Castle in Chess: Kingside and Queenside
  3. En Passant in Chess, Explained on the Board
  4. Pawn Promotion in Chess: Turning a Pawn Into a Queen

Unit 3Winning the game

  1. What Is Checkmate? Learn to Mate in One
  2. Stalemate in Chess: Why It's a Draw
  3. How to Checkmate With a King and Queen

Unit 4Your first tactics

  1. The Fork: Attack Two Pieces at Once
  2. The Pin in Chess: Freeze a Piece in Place
  3. The Skewer in Chess: Attack Through a Piece

Unit 5Checkmate patterns

  1. Back-Rank Mate in Chess: Spot It and Stop It
  2. Smothered Mate in Chess: The Knight's Checkmate
  3. The Ladder Mate: Checkmate With Two Rooks
  4. How to Checkmate With a King and Rook

Unit 6More tactics

  1. Discovered Attack in Chess: Unmask a Hidden Attacker
  2. Double Check in Chess: Two Checks at Once
  3. Removing the Defender in Chess: Take the Guard

Unit 7Opening principles

  1. Control the Centre: A Chess Opening Principle
  2. How to Develop Your Pieces in the Chess Opening
  3. Scholar's Mate: How It Works and How to Stop It
  4. Fool's Mate: The Fastest Checkmate in Chess

Unit 8Endgame basics

  1. The Rule of the Square in Chess Endgames
  2. The Opposition in Chess: King Endgame Basics
  3. King and Pawn vs King: How to Win the Ending

Lessons for every game

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