In almost every other chess game, your opponent pins your knight with Bg5 or Bg4. Most players either passively escape the pin or take a more aggressive and risky approach to chase the bishop away.

But in this lesson, you’ll learn a powerful and unique way to counter this Bg4 pin. This strategy was used by Garry Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players ever. This is how he punished opponents who dared to pin his knight!

Kasparov’s strategy to counter this pin revolves around a brilliant knight maneuver that forces the bishop away, creating a light-squared weakness. This can then be exploited for a crushing kingside attack and a powerful checkmate.

In a game he played, Kasparov allowed his opponent to pin his knight. Only after the pin did he push h3. But the bishop maintained the pin going back to h5.

He played Nd2, with the plan to reroute it to g3. You may be thinking that this violates an opening principle of not moving the same piece twice in the opening. Now, he even intends to move it at least three times. But this is one of those times when a more advanced idea makes more sense.

Since there is a pawn on c3. the knight can’t go there. It will be more active on the kingside. Plus it will be able to push the bishop back. This allows him to launch an aggressive attack since his pieces are concentrated on the kingside.

How Garry Kasparov Destroys Bg4 Pin Video Lesson

Watch the video lesson to see how Garry Kasparov successfully employed this strategy against the Bg4 pin on his knight.

Below, you can find the complete game shown in the video:

This sort of maneuvers are great to learn but if you want to improve in chess, you need to change your thinking system for the game. To help you with this, you can sign up for our Free Masterclass, so that you can improve your game instantly and get closer to your goals.