How to protect a piece in Chess

In the previous chapter, we have learnt that removing a piece under attack is a safe possibility against a threat. Now we will check how to protect a piece in Chess.

Protecting a piece under attack is also a very solid way to remove a threat. And protecting pieces is a very important notion in chess, as we will see in this article.

The generic principle

Please have a look at this position. Black has just played Rook h8 to d8, and if white does nothing, the Rook on d5 will be captured.
As we have seen in the previous chapters, there are several possibilities for white to react...

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...White can take the Rook, which is fine...

1..Rxd8

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...White can remove the Rook, which is also fine...

1..Rb5

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But there is a third possibility: white can protect the Rook by pushing the c-pawn forward.

1..c4Rxd5

2..cxd5

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Note that it was also possible for White to protect the Rook by moving the other Rook to d1.

In this position, it is said that the white Rook is protected by the pawn.

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If we replace the white Rook by a Knight, the Knight is also protected by the pawn...

1....Rxd5

2..cxd5

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Black to play. What do you think, is the pawn enough to protect the Queen ?

No

Yes, the Queen is protected

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Here Black is more than happy to take the Queen with the Rook, because the whole process is worth 4 points for him: he wins the Queen and only looses a Rook.

1....Rxd5

2..cxd5

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Be careful with the concept of protection, it only works if your piece is less powerful than the threatening one (remember the value of the pieces in Chess !). In this example, White should just have moved the Queen away.

Here is another example, Black has just moved the Rook to f8, threatening to take your Bishop.

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How many moves are possible to protect the Bishop ? Precise answer required !

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White can protect with the King, in g5...

1..Kg5

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...or in g6.

1..Kg6

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White can also protect the Bishop with the Knight going to g3...

1..Ng3

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...or d4.

1..Nd4

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Patterns To Protect Your Piece in Chess

Some of the following examples are well-known cases of mutual protection between pawns and pieces. The following diagrams are going to show:

• Mutual protection of two Knights
• Mutual protection of two Rooks
• Pawn chain

Look at this configuration: the Knights are protecting each other. They cannot be attacked by any opposing piece.

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Here, both Rooks are protecting each other. If a piece takes one Rook, it will be immediately captured by the other one. This configuration is a very safe one for Rooks.

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The pawn chain is another configuration worth to be mentioned. In this position, each pawn is protected by the pawn below. Only the b2 pawn remains vulnerable in this very solid configuration.

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You may wonder why protect pieces in Chess is important. Very simply, if all your pieces are spread across the chessboard without any protection, it is easier for your opponent to create tactical threats, which means more analysis to do on your side, and higher risk to blunder a piece.

On the other hand, if all your pieces are protected by default, it is harder for your opponent to create threats out of nothing, and easier for you to keep the game under control. This is just a practical piece of advice for your games.

The logical follow-up to piece protection is how to exchange pieces in Chess, the topic of the next article. See you there !