↩️ Practice Deflection puzzles
Force a defending piece away from the square or line it guards.
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About Deflection
Deflection wins by driving an overworked defender off its post. A piece is holding something important — guarding a mating square, defending a rook, or covering a promotion square — and you force it to abandon that duty, often with a sacrifice or a threat it must answer. Once the defender is deflected, the thing it protected falls. Deflection is close cousin to decoy and removing-the-defender tactics and appears constantly in attacking play. These {count} deflection puzzles teach you to identify which enemy piece is doing the hard defensive work and how to lure it away.
Frequently asked questions
What is deflection in chess?
Deflection is a tactic that forces an enemy piece to leave a square or line it must guard, so that the position it defended collapses.
What is the difference between deflection and decoy?
Deflection lures a piece away from a duty; a decoy lures a piece onto a specific bad square. Both exploit forced moves.
How do you spot deflection chances?
Find the enemy piece that is defending something critical, then look for a check, capture or threat that forces it to move.
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