Step 8: Club Player · about 25 min
Overloaded Defenders
Goal: Kids can spot a piece with two jobs and win by making it choose one.
You need: Demo board · One board and set per pair
1 · Teach it (15 min)
Read these out loud, or put them in your own words. Show each board on screen or set it up on a demo board.
1.“Some defenders have two jobs at once. We call them overloaded. A piece can't do two jobs, so make it choose!”
2.“Look at Black's rook on d8. Job one: guard the knight on d5. Job two: guard the back row, so White's rook can't check on e8.”
3.“White takes the knight. If the rook takes back, it has left the back row, and White's other rook goes to e8: checkmate! So Black can't take back and is just a knight down.”
4.“This is also called deflection: you pull a defender away from its job. Ask 'Which enemy piece is doing two things?'”
- Taking with the wrong piece (use the piece whose capture forces the defender to choose).
- Forgetting to check whether the defender's second job really matters.
2 · Play it: Two Jobs (10 min)
Set up: Normal game in pairs, or this lesson's extra puzzles.
- When you see an enemy piece guarding two things, say 'Two jobs!' and point at both.
- Win something because of it: two bonus points.
3 · Practice and pass check
On iPads, kids open Student → Step 8 → Too Many Jobs. On paper, print the worksheet. A kid passes by getting 2 of 3 on the pass check. The pass code for this lesson is S8-L3-7H.
🧩 Extra puzzles: 60 real puzzles from lichess.org for kids who finish early: the Extra puzzles button in student mode, or tick Extra puzzles on the worksheet page (8 per set).
Practice (3) with answers
1.Black's rook has two jobs. Make it choose, and win a piece. Draw an arrow or write the move.
Move: Rxd5
2.Circle the black piece that has two jobs.
Answer: d8
3.What is an overloaded piece?
- ✓A defender with two jobs at once
- A piece that has moved too many times
- A piece that is pinned
Pass check (3) with answers
1.Black: White's rook has two jobs. Win a piece! Draw an arrow or write the move.
Move: Rxd4
2.Circle the white piece that has two jobs.
Answer: d1
3.White plays Rxd5. Why can't Black's rook take back?
- ✓Then Re8 is checkmate
- Rooks can't capture knights
- The rook is pinned to the queen
Topic order based on: How to Win at Chess, ch. 9–11 (intermediate tactics). All wording is original.