Tactics

A chess tactic is a move or sequence of moves which may result in substantial gain or limits the opponent's options. I've listed several of them below that should help players develop their tactical game. Each tactic will eventually have a link to its own post with picture diagrams and a simple explanation of the tactic.

1. Battery Two or more pieces that can move and attack along a shared path, situated on the same rank, file, or diagonal.

2. Fork Attack on two or more pieces by one piece.

3. Pin  Piece is under attack and either cannot legally move or should not move because it will allow an attack on a more valuable piece.

4. Skewer (X-ray) If a piece under attack moves it will allow an attack on another piece of lesser value.

5. Discovered Attack Moving a piece uncovers an attack by another piece along a straight line.

6. Undermining (Removal of the Guard)  Capturing a defensive piece, leaving one of the opponent's pieces undefended or under defended.

7. Deflection (Distraction) Forces an opposing piece to leave the square, rank or file it occupies, thus exposing the king or a valuable piece.

8. Decoying (Attraction) Ensnaring a piece, usually the king or queen, by forcing it to move to a poisoned square with a sacrifice on that square.

9. Interference (Interception) Interrupting a line between two opposing pieces by inserting a piece.

10. Clearance Sacrifice Sacrificing a piece to clear the way for an attack by one or more other pieces.

11. Sacrifice  A move which deliberately allows the loss of material, either because the player can win material back, have positional compensation or deliver checkmate.

12. Outpost A square where a piece can attack the opponent's position without being attacked by enemy pawns.

13. Blockade To block a passed pawn with a piece.

14. Pawn Storm Several pawns are moved in rapid succession toward the opponent's defenses.

15. King Walk Several successive movements of the king, usually in the endgame to get it from a safe square (where it was hiding during the middle game) to a more active position.

16. King Hunt A player forces his opponent's king out of safety and chases it across the board with a series of checks.

17. Luft A space left by a pawn move into which a castled king may move, especially such a space made with the intention of avoiding a back rank checkmate.

18. Artificial Castling (Castling By Hand) A maneuver in which a king which has lost the right to castle, but achieves a castled position in several normal moves.

19. Intermediate Move (Zwischenzug) To make an intermediate move before the expected move to gain an advantage.

20. Compulsion to Move (Zugzwang) A situation found in chess and other games, where one player is put at a disadvantage because he must make a move when he would prefer to pass and not move.

21. Triangulation  Technique of making three moves to wind up in the same position while the opponent has to make two moves to wind up in the same position. The reason is to lose a tempo and put the opponent in zugzwang.

22. Combination A sequence of moves, often initiated by a sacrifice, which leaves the opponent few options and results in tangible gain.

23. Windmill (See-Saw)  A tactic in which a combination of discovered checks and regular checks, usually by a rook and a bishop, can win massive amounts of material.

24. Swindle  Obtaining a win or draw from a clearly losing position.

25. Domination Occurs when a piece has a relatively wide choice of destination squares, but cannot avoid being captured.