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Special Moves
Castling, en passant and underpromotion. These rules decide real games, and these puzzles make sure you never miss them.
How to spot it
Castling, en passant and promotion to something other than a queen are rules many players forget in the heat of a game. Ask on every move whether one of them is available: a knight promotion with check, an en passant capture that opens a file, castling that gets the king out of trouble with a rook landing on an open file.
A worked example
Castling can give check, and here it's mate: 1.O-O-O#. The rook lands on d1 with check, the bishops cover c8, d7 and e8, and the rook on h7 covers c7, d7 and e7.
Why it works
These moves exist for a reason, and because they are rare they are easy to overlook, for you and for your opponent. An underpromotion to a knight comes with a fork; en passant stops a pawn from sneaking past; castling is the fastest way to bring a rook into play.
How to defend against it
When your opponent's pawn reaches the sixth or seventh rank, check what every promotion would do, not just the queen. When you push a pawn two squares past an enemy pawn, remember it can be taken en passant on the very next move.
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