Learn my best 5 opening traps right now ! (Click here)

Image of article

A Zwischenzug is also called an “in-between move”. It occurs when a player, instead of playing the expected move, first plays another move, posing an immediate threat that the opponent must answer, and only then plays the expected move. Zwischenzug can be seen in attacking on (more commonly) be used to defend seemingly difficult positions.

In a Chess game, it will usually appear the following way: you will capture a piece. Then your opponent, instead of recapturing, makes another move that is creating a bigger threat. Very commonly, this bigger threat is a check, which is a good reply, because this is something you cannot ignore of course.

Examples of a Zwischenzug

We will start by looking at some basic examples. In the first one, White is making a fork and will apparently win material…

In this example, Black has just escaped a fork with a Zwischenzug. The next example looks a little more like a real game. In this one, we will witness Black escaping a skewer.

The right in-between move is not always so easy to spot. The following position is a pattern that has appeared in many games, and it is easy to fall into it. It combines the concept of Zwischenzug with a nice discovered attack.

But to be honest, the previous moves were not the best moves White could play here. The start position is actually winning for White, so there is a much better possibility to be found here !

Conclusion

The zwischenzug is often an unexpected move, thus it can be overlooked by your opponent and come as a bad surprise to him ! Many Chess games are won this way.

With the Zwischenzug, the pin, the deflection and many other ones, most of the basic tactical patterns have already been covered. A couple of tactical patterns are remaining though, such as Overloading and Removing the Defender, that we will cover in other articles !

Suggested Articles

Because we like you

How to checkmate with two Queens against the lone King

Why is it important to know how to checkmate with two Queens ? If you recognize a familiar checkmate pattern during the middlegame, then you may be able to end the game quickly, by delivering a mate on f7, g7 or h7. The back rank mate is…

Capturing Pieces

Interactions with the friend pieces are one thing. You also have to learn how to interact with the opponent’s pieces. In fact, the only interaction possible between your pieces and the opponent’s pieces is the capture ! Check this article and start capturing pieces ! The piece captures as…