Removing the defender

When you are attacking a piece and your opponent defends it, it is sometimes possible to win material anyway by removing the defender. There are various ways you can remove a defender; the following diagram illustrates the most common:

White is attacking the knight on a4 with the bishop on b3, and the knight on e4 with the rook. Black is defending everything with the bishop on c6. That poor bishop has a lot of jobs to do! In chess, this is called being overloaded, and it means that Black's defensive construction is fragile. White can remove the defender in several ways:

1. White can capture the defender with 1.Nxc6. After Black recaptures with 1...bxc6, both knights are undefended, and White can play 2.Bxa4 or 2.Rxe4 to win a knight. This motif is called capturing the defender.
2. White can lure the defender away from protecting the knight on e4 with 1.Bxa4. After Black recaptures with 1...Bxa4, the bishop has been deflected away from defending the knight on e4, and White can play 2.Rxe4 to win a knight. This motif is called deflection. The deflection is possible because the bishop is overloaded with two defensive tasks.
3. Deflection also works the other way: 1.Rxe4 Bxe4 2.Bxa4, although this wins less material (two knights for a rook).
4. White can attack the defender with 1.b5. Then the bishop must run away to a safe square; for example, 1...Bd7. Now the knight on e4 is undefended, and White can play 2.Rxe4. This motif is called attacking the defender.
5. After 1.b5 Bd7, the pawn on b5 has also interfered with the defense of the other knight, and White can play 2.Bxa4 too. This motif is called interference.

In this level you will practice removing the defender by capturing it.

Examples

The white rook on c1 is attacking the knight on c7, which is protected by the black queen on d8.
White can trade queens with 1.Qxd8, capturing the defender of the knight, which is now unprotected.
After Black recaptures with one of the rooks, White can win the knight, for example 1...Rfxd8 2.Rxc7.

Black's bishop on d6 is attacking White's bishop on f4, which is protected by the knight on e2.
Black can capture the defender with 1...Bxe2, leaving White's bishop unprotected.
If White recaptures, Black can win the bishop, for example 2.Qxe2 Bxf4.
Note that White cannot play the intermediate move Bxd6 to safe the bishop, as Bxe2 is attacking White's queen on d1.

Sometimes capturing the defender can be a temporary sacrifice, if the material won subsequently is worth the investment, as in the following example:

White's queen on d2 is attacking Black's rook on d4, which is protected by the bishop on g7.
White can temporarily sacrifice the exchange with 1.Rxg7+!, capturing the defender of the rook, which is now unprotected.
After Black recaptures with 1...Kxg7, White can win the rook with 2.Qxd4+.
The investment was a good one, in the end White has won the bishop on g7, and has a winning material advantage.

How to spot removing the defender

When you are attacking a protected piece, always think about ways to remove the defence.

Related motifs

There are various ways to remove the defence, of which capturing the defender is the easiest. Other ways to remove the defence include deflection, attacking the defender, and interference.

It is also possible to capture the defender of a square, for example of a square where a checkmate, or a fork is possible. You can learn these combinations in the following levels: