Figure 4.5.9.5[White to move]

Again the more obvious alignment is between Black’s knight and king; but push beyond it and spot the less obvious but more important alignment of Black’s king and rook—his loose rook. True, the diagonal on the other side of the king is occupied by two Black pawns (at h4 and g5). So go to work on them. You see that your bishop on f2 can take the h4 pawn when it administers the skewer. The issue is the pawn on g5. An enemy pawn that clutters the line you need generally can be cleared in either of two ways: you can take something it protects, inviting it to recapture and leave its square; or you may be able to capture the pawn directly if the recapture will be performed by one of the enemy pieces you mean to skewer. Here as in the previous examples the former method is the one that works. The g5 pawn protects Black’s knight on f4, so White plays RxN+. If Black recaptures with g5xR, White has the skewer Bxh4+ and takes the rook next move, winning a piece and a pawn.