Explanation

Protecting a square is insufficient, if the protector can be forced away, because it has to capture somewhere else, leaving the square unprotected.

Sometimes a protector has more than one task. It has to protect a piece and a square, or two squares. Such a protector is called "overloaded", if after performing one of the tasks, it is deflected away from doing the other.

The following diagram illustrates the most common ways to remove a defender of a skewer:

The black knight on h5 defends f4, preventing White from winning the b8 rook with the skewer Bf4+. This defense has holes, and White can win by removing the defender in a few different ways:

• White can capture the defender with 1.Rxh5! Now either 1...gxh5 loses a rook to 2.Rxf6+, or else Black trades rooks first with 1...Rxf1+ 2.Kxf1 gxh5, still leaving f4 undefended and letting White win with the skewer 3.Bf4+.
• White can attack the defender with 1.g4! Again, after 1...Rxf1 2.Kxf1 Nf6 (or Ng7) the square f4 is no longer defended and White can play the skewer 3.Bf4+.
• In addition to defending f4, the black knight is also protecting the rook on f6. The knight is overloaded. White can deflect the defender with 1.Rxf6+! After Black recaptures with 1...Nxf6, the knight no longer defends f4 and White wins with the skewer 2.Bf4+.

Examples

White can play the knight fork 1.Nf6+! to deflect the queen from the back rank: 1...Qxf6 2.Rc8+ Kd7 3.Rxg8.

Sometimes, deflection can be combined with other motifs, as in the following example:

White can trade knights to deflect the c-pawn away from protecting b5 and to open the diagonal from b5 to e8 for a skewer: 1.Nxd5 cxd5 2.Bb5 Qc7 3.Bxe8.

Sometimes a temporary sacrifice can be used to deflect a piece:

White can temporarily sacrifice the exchange to capture one defender of b7, deflect the other, and clear the c-file for a skewer by the other rook: 1.Rxb7! Rxb7 2.Rc8+ Ke7 3.Rxh8.

Related combinations

There are various ways to remove the defence. In addition to capturing the defender, other ways to remove the defence include deflection, and attacking the defender.