Defense: Find the Best Reply

Three ways to answer a check

When your king is in check you have exactly three options: move the king, block the check, or capture the attacker. Run through them in order and one will usually save you. Panicking — grabbing your queen or pushing a random pawn — is how lost positions become totally lost.

Count the attackers again

Defense has the same math as attack. If their two pieces attack your knight and you have one defender, the knight will fall. Either add a defender, move the knight, or create a counter-threat so big they have to deal with you first.

A trade can be a shield

When you are being attacked, trading pieces calms the position down. Fewer pieces on the board means fewer threats. Defense is easier on a quiet board — and sometimes the attacker’s position becomes hollow after the trades.

Stay cool

Lost-looking positions are won every day by players who stop, look at every check and every capture, and pick the best reply. Your opponent has to find good moves too. Make them prove it.