Thread by @rasmansa

I created this position to highlight the chess concepts of "pins" and "forced moves"

Here, it's white to move.
#chesspunks

First, the black Queen is pinned to her King. If she moves, he dies. So she must stay in place or the player find some other way to eliminate the threat.

The pin isn't immediate though... because the white Rook is in the way. But, if that Rook moves, it's on!

So 1. Rxa6!

The King is in check, and the only piece within reach to capture it is the Black Queen...but she's pinned! So black only has the single "forced move" of 1..Kb8.

But, the party isn't over yet.

The Black Queen is no longer pinned by the White Queen, but now the white Bishop pins the pawn to the King.

How can white take advantage of that?

2. Rb6!

Now the Rook pins the Queen to the King!
Black will lose the Queen after 2..Qxb6 and 3. axb6

Mea culpa here, when I created the position I made the mistake of leaving room for black to throw in some "spite checks" to delay white's win.

I hope you enjoyed this little chess thread. I try not to only talk messy stuff on here.

You can find things similar to this on lichess.org/practice