♞Reflex Chess

The four tactics that decide games under 1500

Fork, pin, skewer, trap. Four shapes, and between them they account for most of the material that changes hands in club chess.

All four work the same way underneath: one move that creates two problems, when the opponent only gets to solve one. A fork attacks two things at once. A pin and a skewer attack two things through each other. A trap attacks one thing that has nowhere to go, which is the same idea with the second problem already built into the position.

Learn them in this order. Forks are the most common and the easiest to see. Pins and skewers are the same geometry read in two directions and are much easier as a pair than separately. Trapped pieces come last because they need you to already see the first three.

Every motif in Tactics

Work through the section in order The four patterns that decide most games under 1500. Five graded levels per motif, four positions a lesson. Open the course

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