FoxyChess › Tactics › Trapped Piece
Trapped Piece
A piece with no safe squares to go to. Attack it and it is lost, however valuable it is. Bishops and queens that grab pawns are classic victims.
How to spot it
A piece deep in enemy territory, or on the edge of the board, may have nowhere safe to go. Attack it with a pawn and count its escape squares. Queens and bishops that have taken a pawn on b2 or b7 are the usual victims.
A worked example
The knight on a5 has drifted to the edge. 1.b4! attacks it, and every square is covered: b3 by the bishop, c4 by the d3 pawn, c6 by the d5 pawn, b7 by its own pawn. The knight is lost.
Why it works
A piece that can't move is as good as captured; it is only a matter of time. Knights on the rim, bishops that grab a poisoned pawn and queens that wander into a corner are the pieces most often trapped.
How to defend against it
Before you take a pawn deep in enemy territory, work out how the piece gets back. If an enemy pawn move would leave it with no squares, leave the pawn alone.
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