Skewers in chess
Stockfish 16.1 · runs in your browserPlay Re1+. The rook checks the king on e7; the black rook on e8 stands behind it.
Play on the board, or use Type a move below it.
Play a move by typing it, like e4, Nf3 or e7e8q, then press Enter.
Commentary
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Best move
A skewer attacks a piece with another target behind it on the same line. Here the rook checks the king with a rook behind it. Explore the king's replies to see how the rear target becomes exposed.
Try the moves
Choose an example, play the suggested move, then reset to compare another legal move.
Rules and examples
The board positions are original teaching examples. Rule references and further practice are linked below.
Rules: FIDE Laws of Chess, effective 1 January 2023. https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/E012023
Rule replay: python-chess 1.11.2 (GPL-3.0-or-later). The shared browser engine retains its Stockfish GPL-3.0 notice. No engine score is claimed by these demonstrations.
See the referenceA move on the board
4r3/4k3/8/8/8/8/8/K2R4 w - - 0 1
4r3/4k3/8/8/8/8/8/K3R3 b - - 1 1
- Re1+The rook checks the king on e7; the black rook on e8 stands behind it.
The rook checks the king on e7; the black rook on e8 stands behind it.
Original teaching example replayed with python-chess 1.11.2, 2026-10-18.
Analysis runs on Stockfish 16.1 in your browser, compiled to WebAssembly by stockfish.js. Stockfish is free software under the GNU General Public License v3; its source code is on GitHub.