Domination

Particularly in endgame studies, domination occurs when a piece has a relatively wide choice of destination squares, but nevertheless cannot avoid being captured.

The following puzzle is an example from actual play. The position occurred in the game Beliavsky - Korchnoi, György Marx Memorial, 2004. White blundered with 38.Kh2? allowing 38...Qd3, this dominates the knight, despite having six squares available to it, its capture cannot be avoided. b2, d2, a5 and e5 are guarded by the Black bishop, d6 by the Black queen, and b6 by the pawn. Additionally, there is no way for the White queen to safely defend it, as every square she could defend it from is guarded by the Black queen.