Week 6: Pins
12-week course · lesson plan for a 60-minute live group class · for the coach
Lesson plan · Worksheet · Large print · Answer key · 12-week syllabus
Learning objective
Students can recognise a pin (a piece that can’t move, or shouldn’t, because a more valuable piece stands behind it) and use one to win material.
Before class (under 10 minutes)
Prerequisites: Weeks 1–5, especially how bishops, rooks and queens move in lines.
- Open "Week 6 demonstration".
- Have "Week 6 practice" ready in the Puzzles list.
Class plan, minute by minute
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Warm-up One fork puzzle from last week on the shared board. |
| 5–20 min | Shared board: pins Load "Week 6 demonstration": a knight pinned to its king, then a pin that wins the queen. Ask: why can’t the pinned piece move? |
| 20–35 min | Puzzles on their own boards Puzzles → "Week 6 practice". Mixed-level group: "Week 6 all levels". |
| 35–52 min | Play each other Pair students and start. Challenge: find a piece in your game that is pinned (yours or theirs). |
| 52–60 min | Review Review questions below. Preview: next week, skewers (a pin turned around). |
Shared-board demonstration
In the lesson app: Lesson library → Week 6 demonstration: Pins.
The black knight is pinned: the rook would attack the king if it moved, so it may not move at all.
A pin to the king is total: the pinned piece cannot move. A pin to the queen is a choice: it can move, but the queen is lost.
White to move: pin the queen and win it.
The pawn on a4 protects b5, so the pinned queen can’t even take the bishop safely.
Answer: Bb5 pins the queen to the king. Taking the bishop with the queen loses it to the pawn: axb5.
Puzzles on every student’s own board
In class: Puzzles → choose the set → Start puzzles. Each student solves on their own board while you watch every board live. A wrong move gets a reason or a hint (for example “look for a check”), and any checkmate counts as solved.
- Everyone: Week 6 practice: Pins (6 puzzles, including real-game puzzles from Lichess). The worksheet uses the same puzzles.
- Mixed-level group: Week 6 all levels: Pins (12 puzzles): the 3 easier ones first, then the practice set, then 3 harder ones, including real-game puzzles from Lichess. Each student goes at their own pace, so beginners stay with the easier puzzles while stronger students reach the harder ones.
- A whole group that needs more support: Week 6 easier: Pins. A whole group ready for more: Week 6 harder: Pins.
Check for understanding
- What is a pin? Answer: A piece that can’t move (or shouldn’t) because a more valuable piece stands behind it on the same line.
- Which pieces can pin? Answer: Bishops, rooks and queens: the pieces that move in long lines.
- Can a piece pinned to its king move? Answer: No, never: that would leave the king in check.
Help for beginners
Draw an arrow through the line: attacker → pinned piece → valuable piece behind. If the student is stuck, ask which enemy pieces stand on one line with their king.
For stronger students
"Week 6 harder": real-game pins from Lichess.
Every position, answer and hint on this page is checked move by move with chess.js before it is published. Real-game puzzles come from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).