Walking into a legal attack

Walking into a legal attack is a move that lands on a square the opponent can legally capture. A piece pinned to its king does not attack off that pin, and a king does not capture onto a protected square.

Why you should notice it

A line that looks like an attack is not a capture if the attacker cannot legally move. Counting that pin as a real threat makes you reject a safe move, or miss that the real attackers are the ones that can take.

When to check it

This belongs to the blunder check, as level 2 of walking into an attack. You already have a candidate. Ask: after this piece lands, which opponent pieces can legally take it? You also practise the opponent’s candidate, so you see when their move walks onto a square you can legally capture.

Why players miss it during games

The bishop’s diagonal reaches the square, so the attack looks real. The pin to the king is on another line, and it is easy to forget that the bishop cannot leave it. The legal check is the one that decides whether the piece is actually hanging.

How WayChess trains it

A purple arrow shows the move. You draw a blue arrow from every piece that legally attacks the landing square. On submit, correct arrows turn green, wrong arrows turn red, and missed legal attacks appear in amber. If you mark an attack that fails only because the attacker is pinned to its king, an amber arrow shows that pin.

Related checks

Start from walking into an attack, which counts every geometric attack, then use this check to drop the illegal ones. Available captures is the same pin rule on pieces that are already on the board.

See all habits.