Pin (chess) Pin (chess) In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece. Moving the attacking piece to bring on the pin is called pinning; the defending piece so restricted is described as pinned. Only pieces that can move an indefinite number of squares in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line (i.e. bishops, rooks, and queens) can pin. Kings, knights, and pawns cannot pin. Any piece can be pinned except the king, since the
Chess piece each of the two players begins with the following sixteen pieces in a standard game: The rules of chess prescribe the types of move a player can make with each type of chess piece. Each piece type moves in a different way. During play, the players take turns moving one of their own chess pieces. Pieces other than pawns capture in the same way that they move. A capturing piece replaces the opponent piece on its square, except for an "en passant" capture. Captured pieces are immediately removed from the game. A square may hold only one piece at any