🩻 Practice X-Ray Attack puzzles
Attack through an enemy piece to a target behind it.
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About X-Ray Attack
An X-ray, or through-attack, is when a long-range piece exerts its power across an enemy piece to a square or piece beyond. Sometimes it means defending your own piece through an enemy blocker; sometimes it means winning a piece once the intervening man is removed. X-ray tactics require you to see the full length of a line and imagine the board with the blocker gone. They overlap with skewers and pins but include subtle defensive resources too. These {count} X-ray puzzles stretch your ability to calculate along fully loaded ranks, files and diagonals.
Frequently asked questions
What is an X-ray attack in chess?
An X-ray attack is when a rook, bishop or queen acts through an enemy piece to influence a square or piece behind it, as if seeing through the blocker.
How is an X-ray different from a skewer?
A skewer forces the front piece to move so you win the one behind. An X-ray can also be defensive, protecting or attacking a target through the intervening piece.
Why are X-ray tactics tricky?
You must evaluate the line as if the blocking piece were gone, which requires calculating one step further than usual.
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