In the position below it is white’s turn to move. The title already gives you a clue as to what you should be looking for. Can you find the tactic that wins material?
Scroll down to see the solution.
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The black bishop on e7 seems to be pretty well defended.
One would think that such a well defended piece will not be vulnerable to tactics? Wrong, this bishop is not safe! White can use a short combination of moves to remove all the defenders and then capture the bishop.
But not only does this move capture a defender, it also lures the black queen away from defending the bishop on e7.
Black pretty much has to play Qxd5, else he just lost a piece in any case.
The bishop has only one defender remaining. But white can deal with this too.
Nxc6 also creates the discovered attack threat – Qxd5. At the same time white is threatening the “in-between move” Nxe7+!
There is no way for black to deal with both threats: Qxd5 & Nxe7+. The best black can do is to play Qxc6 to prevent losing even more material.
Note that if black played Qxd1 (instead of Qxc6), then white would play Nxe7+, followed by Rxd1. In this case white would have kept his knight AND won the bishop, instead of just the bishop.
Want to further improve your tactical skill?
Check out the 100 Study Tactics.