Grivas on Trapping a Piece

by Efstratios Grivas
2/24/2025 – A trapped piece is a piece that has no escape squares or squares where it can safely move without being captured. A trapped piece can be a bishop or a knight, but also ‘heavier’ pieces such as a rook or a queen can be ensnared. Even the king can be put into a position where it no way to move around. In the first part of his article GM Efstratios Grivas deals with a trapped king and trapped queens.

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Trapping a Piece

The following are the most typical means of trapping pieces:

  • Capturing it!
  • Limiting its mobility using pawns/pieces and attacking it/locking it out of the game.
  • Chasing it to a bad square or corner of the board, where its mobility will be limited.

A trapped piece can be a bishop/knight, but also ‘heavier’ pieces as rook and queen.
Pawns are not referred to as trapped due to their limited movement, and kings cannot be captured, although any mate is essentially a trapped king!

Trapped pieces are important to recognise because they can often be won. We have to train on how to recognise and attack trapped pieces, but not all trapped pieces can be won easily.

If a trapped piece cannot be attacked or won, it can still be a liability, as technically material has been ‘won’.

Trapping the King

We are usually referring to trapping the king when we succeed in mating him. But there are cases that simply the opponent king has no way to move around. In the middlegame, maybe this isn’t that important, but in the endgame it can be critical!

Trapping the Queen

This is an often met concept, as we have many games where a queen acts carelessly and expose herself early in the game. In general, try not to move around with the queen in the opening, chasing ‘poisoned’ pawns!

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Efstratios (30.03.1966) is a highly experienced chess trainer and chess author. He has been awarded by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) the titles of International Chess Grandmaster, FIDE Senior Trainer, International Chess Arbiter and International Chess Organiser.
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