Decoy: a practical example
A sacrificed piece might lure a king onto a square vulnerable to a knight fork. Unlike simply driving a defender away, the decoy emphasizes the unfavorable destination and the tactical consequence of arriving there.
How to use the idea in your games
Calculate the sequence after the attraction and check whether the opponent can decline it. A decoy is convincing only when the resulting choices favor your position.
A useful study question
Can you explain decoy in your own words, identify it in a position, and describe when the idea does not apply? Test the explanation on a legal board before relying on it.
Connect the ideas
Fork, Deflection, Combination are useful next concepts. Follow the links to compare definitions and examples, then return to the complete chess glossary whenever an unfamiliar term appears.
Sources & further reading
References checked September 5, 2026. Linked services are independent of ChessRankings.com™.