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Defense: smart protection (1)

You already know that you can protect a piece by defending it. You’ve had some good practise with this, so you are probably quite good at it by now.

In this lesson, we will teach you an extra smart way of protecting: by clearance. One piece steps aside in order to clear a file, rank or diagonal.

Now another piece can defend along that file, rank or diagonal. Feeling overwhelmed? Don’t worry. Studying the examples will help you understand.

Example 1 is a simple recap of normal protection.

The fun starts in example 2. This example shows you how clearance is done. White’s knight seems beyond saving. Yet, White does manages to save it, by cleverly clearing a rank.

To sum up, it is possible to protect a piece by playing a third. Pretty smart, huh?

What do you have to do?
Protect your piece by moving a piece out of the way.
1 2
The knight is in danger.
Moving is not an option since there are no safe squares.
Can White protect its knight with another piece? Yes, he can.
By putting his queen on the same row, the queen protects the knight.
This way, White saves his knight. So far, nothing new.