Deflection — Chess Puzzles

Solve free «Deflection» chess puzzles from the lichess database, from beginner to master. No account needed.

A deflection forces a piece away from the job it is doing. A defender is guarding a square, a piece, or the back rank, and you make it an offer it cannot refuse — usually a capture or a check — and then take what it was guarding. Nothing is won by force; the defender is simply somewhere else when it matters.

How to spot it

• One enemy piece is defending two things at once, or defending the only weak square.
• You can attack that defender with a check or a capture it must answer.
• The thing it defends is worth more than what you offer.
• Ask what each enemy piece is holding, then ask what would happen if it were not there.

A worked example

White: king d5, rook h1. Black: king e7, rook e6. White to move.

1. The black rook on e6 has exactly one defender: its own king, next to it on e7.
2. Rh7 checks. The king has to move, and every square it moves to is a step further from the rook it was guarding.
3. Rh6 checks again and drives the king to g5. Now Rxe6 simply takes a rook that nothing defends.

The idea Nothing was won by force — the defender was just somewhere else when it mattered. Ask what each enemy piece is holding, then look for the check that sends it away.