Bs"d

The pin is mightier than the sword.

Of course there are always naysayers who will say that that is not how the saying goes, but that it is supposed to say: “The PEN is mightier than the sword.”

But that is of course utter nonsense. Just try being a pen pal with for instance a T-rex, and you will soon find out that that is really not how it works.

But the truth of the saying: “The PIN is mightier than the sword, that is something we can observe daily in our noble chess games.
For instance, in this game: https://lichess.org/BoY50Dbfqopn where I three times sacrificed a castle, it all began with me sacrificing a pawn on move 24.
What did I get out of that pawn sacrifice? Material? No. I got only something immaterial out of it, but nevertheless something that was mightier than the sword.
A pin.
Pushing my pawn out of the way opened up the diagonal for my bishop on c5, who thereupon immediately began to pin the enemy f2 pawn on the king. An absolute pin. Pins just don’t get any stronger than that. I mean, if you pin something on the enemy
queen, you sometimes just might get a nasty surprise, when the enemy thinks he can sacrifice his queen for some greater good, but sacrificing the king is just not an option.
A pin on the king is a real and unbreakable pin.
And it was because of this mighty pin that I was able to three times sacrifice a castle, and vanquish the enemy king.
I really couldn’t have done it without that pin.

Also in this 11 move miniature Stafford gambit https://lichess.org/71zauXsfdqQa the final death blow was only possible because of a pin.

Truly the pin is mightier than the sword!

https://tinyurl.com/mightierthansword

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Monday, March 28, 2022 at 9:26:11 PM UTC+3, Eli Kesef wrote:

Bs"d

Here after my Zukertort opening, I got yet another Tennison gambit: https://lichess.org/rM1H0EhfVL9R

I followed the line taught to me by GM Smirnov, and it worked like a charm. The enemy fell two times victim to the fact that his e6 pawn was pinned, and that costed him two pieces. Since I had sacrificed my horse on f7, that put me one piece ahead.
Also in this game the enemy lost 2 pieces on the same square, because of the same pin: https://lichess.org/jrKdQp4eNlR4
Isn't that incredibly funny?? :D

Then my bishop took his e6 pawn, which was protected by his queen and king, and only attacked by my queen and bishop. So he right away took my bishop with his queen.
And that was a big mistake.
Because now I could royally fork him. My horse forked both his queen and king in one jump, and the enemy run out of the game without resigning.
That's OK, I understand. https://tinyurl.com/resign-grace
On top of that, after he run away, Lichess told me that I could claim victory in 9 seconds, so there was no harm done.

Tennison in combination with my trusty horse did it again!

https://tinyurl.com/horse4k-withu

Bs"d

So in the quoted post here above we see two cases of the enemy falling two times victim to a Pin, and he loses two pieces on the same square, and all that because of the same Pin.

In this battle https://lichess.org/N5TwHPJGGURU I started with the Zukertort, and I got a Tennison gambit on the battlefield.
I would have gone for the easy & quick trap, but because the enemy started to defend his pawn with his bishop in stead of the much more common protection by the horse, according to the principle that we develop the horses before the bishops, therefore I
could not go for the quick & easy trap.
Since the enemy was rated on Lichess 1876, for me a frightening high rating, I decided to go for the deep and complicated Smirnov trap.
And lo and behold, what happened was that, again, the enemy lost two pieces on the same square, because of the same Pin.

That is the third time in a relative short time span that the enemy loses two pieces on the same square because of the same Pin.

This is another brutal example of The Pin being mightier than the sword.

There is no denying it anymore.

https://tinyurl.com/mightierthansword

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Monday, April 4, 2022 at 4:35:09 PM UTC-6, Eli Kesef wrote:

But that is of course utter nonsense. Just try being a pen pal with for instance a T-rex, and you will soon find out that that is really not how
it works.

Also, a pen that ends up writing sentences like "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents - except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the
darkness" might be considered to be a pen with limited effectiveness, for
it was Edward Bulwer-Lytton that originally coined the phrase, which in its complete form is "Under the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword", so only where the pen may sway voters is it mighty; under tyrants, the sword must answer.

John Savard

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Bs"d

https://tinyurl.com/short-sword

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wednesday, April 13, 2022 at 4:54:15 AM UTC+3, Quadibloc wrote:

On Monday, April 4, 2022 at 4:35:09 PM UTC-6, Eli Kesef wrote:

But that is of course utter nonsense. Just try being a pen pal with for instance a T-rex, and you will soon find out that that is really not how
it works.

Also, a pen that ends up writing sentences like "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents - except at occasional intervals, when it was
checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the
darkness" might be considered to be a pen with limited effectiveness, for
it was Edward Bulwer-Lytton that originally coined the phrase, which in its complete form is "Under the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword", so only where the pen may sway voters is it mighty; under tyrants, the sword must answer.

John Savard

Bs"d

https://tinyurl.com/wise-words

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Bs"d

Here another painful example of the power of the pin: https://lichess.org/O3DebqQsBGh1

And 1837 overlooked the fact that a pinned piece really cannot do much protecting. And that costed him his queen and the game. :)

https://tinyurl.com/mightier-than-sword

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Bs"d

Here again a painful example of somebody overlooking a nasty pin: https://lichess.org/e0Vw649DmyAU

It costed the enemy a full piece, and brought the game to a quick end.

Beware of the pin!

https://tinyurl.com/Tshirtpin

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)