Overloading
Overloading is a tactic against a single defender that has two jobs at once, so that when you win one of the things it guards, it can no longer protect the other.
Also called: overworked piece
A piece is overloaded when it is the only defender of two or more things. It might guard a loose pawn and a mating square, or a rook and the back rank, or two pieces at once. As long as nobody attacks, it copes. Once you attack both, it can only keep one promise.
The usual way to use it is to take or attack one of the two things. If the defender recaptures, the other thing is left without protection and you take that too. If the defender does not recapture, you simply keep what you won. Often the exchange is even on the surface, such as a knight for a bishop, and the real gain comes from the second capture.
To spot it, list what each enemy piece protects. A queen that watches two loose pieces, or a rook that guards both a knight and the last rank, is a good candidate. A pin makes the idea stronger, because a pinned defender may be able to capture in only one direction.
To defend, give every loose piece a second guard and do not leave one piece covering two things that you cannot afford to lose.
In the diagram the queen on d7 guards both the knight on b5 and the bishop on g4. White plays Bxb5, attacking the queen, which is pinned to the king on e8 and can only take back on b5. Then Nxg4 wins the bishop, and White has won a piece.
Compare it with Absolute pin. An absolute pin is a pin in which the piece behind the pinned piece is the king, so the pinned piece cannot legally move off the line at all.
It sits close to Interference. Interference is a tactic in which you land a piece on the line joining two enemy pieces that depend on each other, cutting their connection so that one of them can be won.
A neighboring idea is Removing the defender. Removing the defender means getting rid of the one piece that protects a target, by capturing it or forcing it to move, after which the target can be taken for free.
To see how often "Overloading" or a pattern like it decides your own games, book a first lesson: George Li reviews your games and writes a study plan around what he finds.
Related terms
Deflection is the tactic of dragging an enemy defender off its post, often by a threat or an offered capture, so that what it was holding together falls apart.
Removing the defender means getting rid of the one piece that protects a target, by capturing it or forcing it to move, after which the target can be taken for free.
A pin ties a piece to its square: a bishop, rook or queen attacks it, and stepping aside would expose a more valuable piece standing behind it on the same line.
A combination is a forcing sequence of moves, usually built from sacrifices and checks, in which every move leaves the opponent few or no choices and the sequence ends in a concrete gain such as mate or material.
Guides that go further
What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.
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