Trapped piece — Chess Puzzles

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A trapped piece has no safe square to go to. Nobody has captured it yet, but it is lost all the same: every retreat is covered, and one more attacker finishes the job. Bishops and knights that wander into enemy territory after a pawn are the usual victims, and a queen chasing a pawn is the most expensive one.

How to spot it

• An enemy piece is deep in your position with no line of retreat.
• Its escape squares are covered by your pawns, and a pawn can attack it for free.
• It went pawn-hunting and the door closed behind it.
• Count its squares before you count material: a piece with nowhere to go is already yours.

A worked example

White: king f5, bishop b3, pawn h6. Black: king f8, knight h7, pawns a3 and c7. White to move.

1. The knight on h7 has two squares, f6 and g5, and the white king on f5 covers both. It is not stuck — it simply has nowhere safe.
2. So White does not need a tactic, only a walk: Kg6 attacks the knight and takes the last of its air away.
3. Black cannot hold it. Ke7 does not help, and Kxh7 collects the piece.

The idea A piece whose every square loses it is already gone, however many friends stand nearby. Count a piece's safe squares before you count material.