Rating 2253 · Expert · advantage, middlegame, short.
White: king g1; queen g4; rook a1; bishops c1/c4; knight c3; pawns a2/b2/c2/f2/f5/g2/h2. Black: king g8; queen d8; rooks a8/f8; bishops c8/e5; pawns a7/b7/c7/d6/f7/g7/h7. Black is ahead by 2 points of material. White to move.
White's 1.Nd5 is a decoy that forces Black's queen back to d8 by attacking it directly. The queen has no safe square that maintains pressure on White's position — any move like 1...Qe6 or 1...Qh4 allows 2.Nxe5, winning the bishop. After the forced 1...Qd8, White plays 2.Bg5, which pins the f7 pawn to the king on g8. The pin is absolute because f7 is the sole defender of Black's kingside; moving it exposes the king to discovered check along the e-file if White ever opens that file, and more immediately, it leaves g7 undefended. This creates a devastating double threat: White threatens 3.Nxf7 (removing the defender of the king's shelter) and simultaneously threatens 3.Bxf6 if Black plays a move like 3...Qb6. Black cannot defend both threats, and the pin on f7 ensures that any capture loses material or opens the kingside to a mating attack.
Recognize the decoy pattern: a knight or queen move that forces the opponent's defender to retreat to a passive square, clearing the way for a follow-up pin or skewer. The key here is that 1.Nd5 doesn't win material immediately — it relocates the queen to a square where White's next move (the bishop pin) creates the actual winning advantage. Train yourself to see two-move combinations where move one is a tempo-gaining check or attack, and move two exploits the newly passive defender.
advantage, middlegame, short. The key move is Nd5.
FEN: r1bq1rk1/ppp2ppp/3p4/4bP2/2B3Q1/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1B3K1 b - - 1 12
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Analysis generated with Stockfish 18 and AI assistance. Puzzle data from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).