Chess Piece Safety
When we talk about piece safety, we're talking about leaving pieces en prise (in take). A piece left en prise means that it can be captured by an opponent, without a recapture. Sometimes this is also called hanging the piece.
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Look at the example to the right - White to move. In this case, the black Bishop on a6 is unprotected (en prise). White can just capture it. The black Bishop on f6, however, is protected. White can't capture it, because Black will simply recapture with his pawn.
Seem obvious to you? Why do we need to study something so simple?
The fact is that in most games between beginners, each player hangs pieces on multiple occasions. Does this sound familiar to you? A little bit of practice in this area can go a long way.
The next two pages present some exercises to work through.