Chess tactics
What Is Removing the Defender in Chess?
Removing the defender is a tactic in which you capture, chase away, or block the piece that protects an enemy piece or a key square. Once the guard is gone, the piece or square it protected can be taken or used for mate.
Example
1. Bxf6 g6 2. Bxe7 Qxe7
The knight on f6 is the only piece guarding h7 against Qxh7 mate. Bxf6 removes it. Recapturing with the bishop or the g-pawn allows Qxh7 mate, so Black plays g6, and after Bxe7 Qxe7 White is a piece up.
How it works
Many positions hold together because one piece does an important job: it guards a piece that is attacked, covers a mating square, or stops a fork. Take that piece away and the position collapses.
The usual method is a capture, often a trade that looks even. You give a bishop for a knight, but because the knight was the only guard, you win something else on the next move. Sometimes it is worth giving up more, such as a rook for the defender, when the reward is mate.
Ways to remove a defender
Capture it, as in the example. Attack it so it has to move, for instance by kicking a knight with a pawn. Lure it away with a sacrifice it must accept, which is called deflection. Or block its line to the piece it protects, which is called interference.
How to spot it
When a target is defended exactly once, ask what defends it. Then ask whether you can capture, attack, or distract that defender with tempo. Knights on f6 and f3 that guard h7 and h2 are the most common victims.
Count carefully. Removing the defender only works if the follow-up wins more than you spent, and if the opponent cannot bring a new defender in time.
Common questions
What is the difference between removing the defender and deflection?
Deflection is one way to remove a defender: you force it to leave its post, usually by offering material it has to take. Removing the defender is the broader idea and also covers simply capturing the guard.
Is removing the defender the same as undermining?
Yes. Undermining is another name for the same idea, used most often when the defender is a pawn that is captured or attacked.
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