Deflection, Decoy & Attraction

Deflection forces a defending piece away from its defensive duty. Example: a rook sacrifice on the back rank forces the opponent's queen to capture, abandoning its defence of another piece. The key pattern: one piece is defending something important; you force it to move, exposing the target it was guarding. Deflection works hand-in-hand with overloading, you deflect the overloaded piece from one duty, exploiting the other.

Decoy lures an enemy piece to a specific square where it becomes vulnerable. Example: sacrificing a queen on a specific square to lure the king there, setting up a discovered check. The key difference from deflection: deflection forces a piece away from a good square; decoy forces a piece onto a bad square. Common decoy targets: luring the king into a fork, luring a piece into a pin.

Attraction draws an enemy piece toward a specific area (not a specific square). Example: a pawn sacrifice that draws the king forward, where it becomes exposed to attack. Attraction is broader than decoy, it pulls the piece toward danger rather than onto one precise square. King attraction is especially powerful, once the king is drawn out of its safe zone, it rarely returns.

Look for these triggers:

1. A key piece with a single defensive duty (deflection target).
2. A square where an enemy piece would be vulnerable to fork, pin, or check (decoy target).
3. An enemy king that can be drawn forward by sacrifices (attraction target). Practice these themes on the puzzle trainer. See 75 Tactical Patterns.