Tactics
What is a Discovered Attack in chess?
- Line
- Reveal
- Tempo
Moving one piece out of the way to reveal an attack from a rook, bishop, or queen behind it.
What to look for on the board
- A rook, bishop, or queen blocked by one of your own pieces.
- The moving piece can make a threat while uncovering another threat.
- The revealed line hits a king, queen, or undefended piece.
Discovered Attack FAQ
What is a discovered attack in chess?
Moving one piece out of the way to reveal an attack from a rook, bishop, or queen behind it.
How do you spot a discovered attack on the board?
Look for: A rook, bishop, or queen blocked by one of your own pieces.; The moving piece can make a threat while uncovering another threat.; The revealed line hits a king, queen, or undefended piece..
How do you get better at using a discovered attack?
The strongest discovered attacks make two threats: the moving piece creates one, and the uncovered line creates another.
Train this pattern on your own games
Reading a definition is not the same as spotting the pattern with a clock running. Chessiro's free game review runs Stockfish 18 over every move you play, names the concept behind each mistake, and turns the positions where it cost you into training puzzles. You can also see the idea in action in the classic games collection, where the greatest players in history demonstrate it.
Types and patterns
Related terms
Free game review
See where discovered attack decides your games
Chessiro reviews your games with an AI coach that names the concept behind every mistake, then drills you on the exact positions where it happened until you stop repeating them.
