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Skewer

A skewer is a pin turned inside out: the more valuable piece stands in front, is forced to move, and exposes the piece lined up behind it. The textbook case is a rook checking the king along a file with the enemy queen behind it on the same line. Long-range pieces produce skewers — remember the geometry when queens and rooks start leaving the board.

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The rook checks the king; when it steps off the e-file, the queen behind it falls.

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