Deflection in Chess
What is deflection
Deflection is a tactic where you force an enemy piece to leave an important square or line. Often it's a square from which the piece protects the king, the queen or a key point.
To deflect a piece, you usually use a check, an attack on a more valuable piece or a sacrifice that the opponent has to accept.
How it differs from removing the defender
When removing the defender, you capture the defending piece and take it off the board. With deflection, the defender stays in the game but has to leave the square where its help was important.
Sometimes the two tactics look alike: a piece is sacrificed, the defender takes it and ends up "in the wrong place". What matters is the result: the key square or line is left undefended.
Why it works
The opponent can't defend several places at once. If you offer them a "more important" target (your sacrifice, a check, a mating threat), they have to deal with it, and at that moment their old defense falls apart.
How to find a deflection
- Find the key target: a mating square, an unprotected piece, a passed pawn.
- Figure out which enemy piece is in the way of your plan, by protecting a square or controlling a line.
- Think about how to force it to leave: give a check, attack a more valuable piece, sacrifice material.
- Make sure the opponent won't have time to bring in a new defender or make an in-between move.
Tips to spot the idea faster
For kids
Imagine a goalkeeper guarding the goal. If you throw a ball off to the side, he runs to catch it, and the goal is left open. In chess you "throw" your opponent a sacrifice or a check, and while they are distracted, you score a goal.
The main thing is to come up with a threat they can't ignore.
For adults
Look for a piece with a double job: it protects the king and at the same time holds back a passed pawn, or it covers two squares at once. Such a piece is a candidate for deflection.
The most forcing deflections come with a check or a queen capture: they are almost impossible to avoid.
Examples
Try it yourself: make a move on the board. If you get stuck, press "Show solution".
1. A rook sacrifice deflects the queen: mate on g7
Idea: White threatens Qg7#: the g7 square is attacked by the queen on h6 and the pawn on f6. The king can't capture on g7, so the only defender of this square is the black queen on f8.
After Re8! the queen on f8 is pinned: the king on g8 stands behind it. If Qxe8, the queen leaves f8 and stops protecting g7, and then comes Qg7#. Other moves don't help either: the pinned queen can't capture on g7.
Solution: Qg7# - checkmate: the queen left f8 and no longer protects g7, and the white queen is supported by the pawn on f6.
2. A check deflects the queen and wins a rook
Idea: the black queen on d6 protects the rook on c6 along the 6th rank. If you deflect the queen, the rook will be left unprotected.
After Qe8+ the only way to block the check is with the queen: Qf8. The queen has left d6, and the rook on c6 is left "naked": on the next move White takes it with Qxc6.
Solution: The queen took the rook on c6: the check forced the black queen to leave d6, and the rook was left unprotected.
3. A queen sacrifice deflects the rook, and the pawn promotes to a queen
Idea: the white pawn stands on b7, ready to promote. The black rook on b8 is the only thing stopping b8=Q.
After Qc8+! Black has to take the queen: Rxc8. The rook has left the b8 square, and now bxc8=Q#: White gets a new queen in place of the sacrificed one, and it's checkmate.
Solution: bxc8=Q# - the rook is deflected from b8, the pawn promotes to a queen, and it's a back rank mate.