Explanation

Basic ways to defend an attacked piece are running away to a safe square, blocking the attack, and protecting the piece. But sometimes none of these defences are possible and the only way to avoid losing material is a counterattack or a check.

In the following situations a normal defence might not be possible, but a defence with a check or a counterattack might work:

• More than one piece is attacked (see "Defend Against Double Attacks"): If one of the attacked pieces can make a counterattack or check, then each player has an attack (see Garbage Collection).
• The attacked piece is trapped: A counterattack or check can move a piece out of the way and open an escape route for the trapped piece or deflect an attacking piece.
• The attacked piece is in a pin or skewer: A counterattack or check can move one of the pieces out of a pin (see Breaking the Pin) or skewer, or deflect an attacking piece.
• The attacked piece must defend another piece or square: A counterattack or check can move the defended piece to a safe square or provide additional protection.

Similar situations can occur with intermediate checks and intermediate moves. Think of it like this: If you give a check or make a counterattack by moving one of your pieces out of an attack, the total number of attacks on the board increases by two in your favour:

• If two of your pieces are attacked, then after the check or counterattack there is one attack on each side.
• If each side has one attack, then after you give an intermediate check or counterattack with an intermediate move there are two attacks for you and none against you.

It can take a few moves of checks and counterattacks until such a situation is resolved. As grandmaster Yuri Averbakh put it, "The best way to meet a counterattack is often another counterattack."

Resolving the situation with a check has the advantage that the opponent always must defend against the check first. With a counterattack this is not the case. To be effective, a counterattack should come with a big threat; otherwise, the opponent could just ignore it.

Examples

Black just played the queen fork Qc6, attacking the unprotected rook on h1 and knight on c3. The only defence is 1.Rd1, with a counter attack on the black rook. If Black trades rooks with 1...Rxd1, the knight can recapture and run away with 2.Nxd1. If Black moves the rook to a safe square, White has gained time to protect the knight, for example: 1...Ra8 attacking the queen, while the knight is still under attack 2.Qd4 (or 2.Qe3).

Black has just attacked the pinned knight with e5-e4, but White can defend with the counterattack 1.h3!, for example 1...exf3 2.hxg4 or 1...Bh5 2.g4. The game continued 1...Bxf3+ 2.gxf3 exf3 and Black had regained the pawn, but White had a better position.

Black has just played Rb7, attacking the queen, which is now trapped. The only defence is 1.Bd7!, with a counter attack on the black queen. Before playing this move, you must calculate both possible capture by Black: If Black captures the bishop with 1...Qxd7?, the queen is deflected away from protecting the rook, which White could now take with 2.Qxb7, winning the exchange. Instead, Black should capture the queen with 1...Rxa7, but then White can regain the queen with 2.Bxc6. White has a better endgame.

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