Most of the time it is an advantage that it is your turn to move, but sometimes it is a very serious disadvantage. In chess this is known as Zugzwang.

This word Zugzwang originates from the German and means something like “forced to move”. It is your move and in chess you have to move since you are not allowed to skip a move in chess.
Zugzwang isn’t something that happens to you. The concept can also be used by making a move which puts your opponent in zugzwang.
Getting the opposition is in fact a way to get your opponent in zugzwang. Another famous technique is triangulation in which you reach the same position, but with your opponent to move.

In some positions whoever is to move is in zugzwang. This kind of postions are referred to as mutual zugzwang or reciprocal zugzwang and are often very interesting postions to study, because these are a kind of balanced positions.

A famous example of this reciprocal zugzwang, called trébuchet, is shown in the figure above.
The player that has to move loses the game. The pawn has to be abandoned. The other player will capture this pawn and is also able to occupy a key square.
If you like to view the replayable moves belonging to this diagram you can find these at the end of this article.

In all four diagrams below Black is able to win the game, because he is able to force his opponent in this famous Zugzwang.

Let’s have a look at the last diagram and replay some of the moves In the next lesson we will start with the first lesson about the checkmating with Bishop and Knight.