A simple adage states, "A pinned piece is a useless piece!" Lets look at OTB examples and some compositions to see whether this is a true or false statement.

By virtue of the simple definition of a Pin, especially an Absolute Pin (AP), no capture can be made by a Pinned piece. However, one needs to consider the subtlety of the rules of chess.

For instance, in Castling, the rules forbid castling through check, castling out of check or castling into check. In a similar manner, even a chessman locked down by an AP disallows a King to stand anywhere in the line of fire or to capture a chessman guarded by such a chessman.

Therefore, not only can it be said that the King is a weak defender, the King is actually a weak attacker as well. Another chessman would be fine capturing a chessman being protected by a pinned piece or moving into the line of fire of a pinned piece to attack somewhere, but the King is forbidden to do so.

To see exactly what I mean, look at this example from BEGINNING CHESS, by Bruce Pandolfini, page 135, Exercise #166, Black to move:

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and notice that the next move is checkmate in the Box Mate pattern:

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Here, the White King makes an illegal move if capturing the Black Rook at f1:

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In Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, p. 116, Diagram G, this problem is given, White to move:

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The solution is as follows:

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Note how White has executed a Back Rank Mate with support from a pinned Rook. No problem! Remember this!

You should also know that the King is not the only chessman limited by a Pin. Only the King can have an Absolute Pin involved, but a Relative Pin (RP) against a Queen is by no means inviolable. The game by Legall and St. Brie in Paris in 1750 http://www.chessgames.com/pgn/de_le... is probably the most famous example.

A second example OTB is this position from Mikhail Ivashchenko vs M Lugovskoy, 2004 included below:

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Black will play Nxd5, leaving the Black Queen in danger by the g5-Bishop. After the White Bishop captures the Black Queen, Black plays Bb4+ and wins the White Queen. White was ahead by a Pawn before Black ignored the Relative Pin against the Black Queen. Now Black is ahead by two points (a Knight less a Pawn), so White resigns. My younger students find this game interesting also because it was played for the Russian championship by less than ten year olds!

The game included below, V Zakhartsov vs A Ainutdinov, 2013, has two noteworthy cases of Pinned Pieces NOT Being Useless. First, at the play 48. ... Rd6, the Black Rook is safe from capture by the White King because of its protection from the pinned Black Bishop. (The Rook is poised to give X-Ray protection to that same Bishop, soon.)

Second, this same game has a beautiful example at the end (although Black should lose with best play) where BOTH pinned pieces are NOT useless. The Black Rook keeps the d-Pawn safe and the Black Bishop still protects the b-Pawn, even though each is under an Absolute Pin!

Finally, you should see for yourself that the statement quoted in the beginning is just a rule of thumb.

Do NOT take it for granted that a pinned piece cannot support a mating attack/net! Look for the particular circumstances, rather than following an idea blindly.

I repeat, look for the particular circumstances, rather than following an idea blindly!

This point does not just apply to Pins and does not just apply to chess. Believe me.

ChessCoachClark (CCC) originated this game collection and he updates it on occasion. This project is a work in progress, culling games from various sources, including several chess training books and personal research. The games are ordered by date (oldest first), not by importance.

Be well.
Be safe.