Shogi glossary
Pin
Japanese: ピン(釘付け)
In shogi, a pin is a line attack where the front piece cannot move because moving it would expose the king, or a more valuable piece, standing behind it. A pinned piece is a sitting target for cheap attackers such as a pawn drop.
A piece that cannot move because it would expose the king or a bigger piece behind it.
How pins arise
Bishops, rooks and lances create pins along their lines. In a typical case a Black bishop on 6f looks up the diagonal through White's rook on 3c to the king on 1a. The rook cannot leave that diagonal, because doing so would put its own king in check, which is illegal.
When the piece behind is the king, the front piece may move only along the pinning line. When it is a rook or gold, moving is legal but costs that piece.
How to exploit a pin
Attack the pinned piece with something worth less. In the example, a pawn dropped on 3d attacks the rook; the rook can neither capture the pawn nor step away, so next move you win a rook for a pawn. A piece pinned to its king also stops defending squares off the line.
How to escape a pin
Capture the pinning piece, move the king off the line in advance, or drop a piece in between. Remember nifu when blocking: a pawn cannot go on a file that already holds one of your unpromoted pawns.
Try it · from “Skewers and Pins”
White's rook is pinned. Win it.
FAQ
Is a pin in shogi the same as in chess?
The idea is identical, but drops let the attacker bring a pawn against the pinned piece from anywhere and let the defender block the line with a piece from hand.
I don't do defense. Hope you brought a castle!
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