Intermediate tactic · 4 of 12
Deflection
Drag a defender away from the piece or the square it is guarding.
- Learn how it worksThree examples with Capra. You play each one yourself.Three examples with CapraStart the lesson
- Practise on real puzzlesPractise on puzzles80 deflection puzzles, from easy to very hard.0 of 80 solvedGo to the puzzlesGo to the puzzles
Three defenders, three deflections
Any piece can be the defender. Find out what it guards, then make it leave.
The king is pulled away
A bishop check drags the king off the square that guards his queen.
The knight is pulled away
A rook check makes the knight capture or block. Either way g7 is unguarded.
The queen is pulled away
The rook attacks the pinned queen. If she takes, g7 is unguarded.
Deflections in numbers
Counted from the 7,664 deflections in our puzzle library, all taken from real games- 1 in 38
of our puzzles has a deflection in it.
- 94%
start with a check. A check is the easiest way to move a defender.
- 31%
end in checkmate.
Which piece makes the first move
- Rook34%
- Queen28%
- Pawn14%
- Knight12%
- Bishop11%
What the deflection wins
- Checkmate31%
- Rook24%
- Queen21%
- Bishop8%
- Knight6%
Good to know
Deflections: common questions
What is deflection in chess?
Deflection is forcing a defending piece to leave its post. Once the defender is gone, the piece or square it was guarding is yours.
What is the difference between deflection and decoy?
Deflection pulls a piece away from something it defends. A decoy, also called attraction, pulls a piece onto a bad square, usually the king into a mating net or a fork.
How do I find a deflection?
Look for an enemy piece that is doing a job: guarding a piece, a mating square or the back rank. Then look for a check, a capture or a sacrifice that it has to respond to.
What is an overloaded piece?
A piece with two defensive jobs at once. Make it do one of them and it has to abandon the other, which is a deflection.