Battery (chess)

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

The white rooks form a battery to capture the pawn protecting the black king.

A battery in chess is a formation that consists of two or more pieces on the same rank, file, or diagonal. It is a tactic involved in planning a series of captures to remove the protection of the opponent's king, or to simply gain in the exchanges.

Other chess authors limit battery to "an arrangement of two pieces in line with the enemy king on a rank, file, or diagonal so that if the middle piece moves a discovered check will be delivered."^[1] However, in Chessgames.com blogs and game annotations of other chess websites, the term is also used in cases where moving the middle piece will uncover a threat other than a check along the opened line.^[2]