X-Ray Defence

&gt; In general, defensive tactics and puzzles are underrepresented in chess literature and resources.<p>I play a lot of puzzles (Storm) on Lichess, and this hits hard. I can spot good attacks, but not good defences because it’s vastly underrepresented in my training.

That second X-ray defense only works because the white rook is protected by the white queen from above. If that weren&#x27;t there, the black queen takes rook.<p>The point is valid that defense lines do not stop at enemy pieces in the current board configuration. They are &quot;X ray&quot; because they look forward to a future board position where some opponent&#x27;s piece has moved out of the way (perhaps staying in that line of attack, susceptible to being taken).