Undermining (chess) Undermining (chess) Undermining (also known as removal of the guard, or removing the defender) is a chess tactic in which a defensive piece is captured, leaving one of the opponent's pieces undefended or under-defended. The opponent has the unpalatable choice of recapturing or saving the undefended piece. A possible response is to sacrifice the piece whose defense was undermined before capturing the piece which just took the defender. Kramnik–Topalov in the seventh round of the 2004 Linares chess tournament reached the diagrammed position with White to play. The black knight on a4 is defended only by the black pawn on
Alfil (chess) Alfil (chess) An alfil (or elephant) is a xiangqi piece and fairy chess piece that jumps two squares diagonally. In many chess variants, but not in xiangqi, it can leap over intermediate pieces. The alfil jumps two squares diagonally, leaping over any intermediate piece. The alfil is a very old piece, appearing in some very early chess variants, such as Tamerlane chess and shatranj. The elephant in xiangqi moves like an alfil, but has additional restrictions involving where it can move. The piece was originally called an "elephant", and two of its alternate names were "hastīn" and "gāja", two Sanskrit