Pin
A piece can't move, or can't move without losing something bigger, because it is shielding a more valuable piece behind it. If the piece behind is the king, the pin is absolute and the pinned piece can't legally move at all.
How to spot it
Line up your rook, bishop or queen with an enemy piece and something more valuable behind it on the same file, rank or diagonal. If the piece behind is the king, the pin is absolute: the front piece can't legally move at all. If it's a queen or rook, the front piece can move but at a cost.
A worked example
1.Re1 pins the queen to the king. The queen can't leave the e-file, so White wins it for a rook (1…Qxe1+ 2.Kxe1, or 1…Kd8 2.Rxe7).
Why it works
A pinned piece is half a piece: it can't take part in the game. Once a piece is pinned you can pile up on it, attack it with a pawn, or simply use the squares it no longer controls. A knight pinned against the queen by a bishop on g5 is the most common pin in the opening.
How to defend against it
Break a pin by moving the piece behind out of the line, by blocking with a less valuable piece, by attacking the pinning piece (…h6 against a bishop on g5) or by making a bigger threat elsewhere. Castling early takes your king off the central files where most absolute pins happen.
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