Breaking the pin
Freeing a pinned piece — by blocking, trading off the pinning piece, or moving the piece the pin protects.
A pin only works as long as it's maintained, and the pinned side usually has more options than it looks. The three standard ways to break one: block the line with another piece, trade off the pinning piece itself (often with a well-timed capture or attack on it), or move the piece being shielded so the pin no longer matters.
Sometimes the best answer to a pin is simply to ignore it — if the piece behind the pinned one isn't actually valuable enough to matter, or if a bigger threat elsewhere outweighs the pin, playing through it can be perfectly safe.
A pin looks permanent until you actively look for ways to break it — most pins have a clean answer if you search for one instead of just accepting the discomfort.
Freezing around a pinned piece for many moves out of caution, when a simple block or trade would have released it long ago.
Related terms
See Breaking the pin in your own games
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