The basis of this illogical, illegal, and untenable assumption is:
The pinned piece, belonging to that force which has the privilege of moving, can abandon its post, and capture the adverse King; this stroke ends the game and the game being ended, the pinning piece never can avail of the abandonment of the covering post by the pinned piece to capture the King thus exposed.
The insufficiency of this subterfuge is clear to the mathematical mind. Its subtlety lies in confounding together things which have no connection, viz.:
Admittedly the given body of Chess-pieces has the right to move, but it is of the utmost importance to note that this privilege of moving extends only to a single piece and from this privilege of moving the pinned piece is debarred by a specific and fundamental law of the game, which declares that:
“A piece shall not by removing itself uncover the kindred King to the attack of a hostile piece.”
Thus, it is clear, that a pinned piece is a disqualified piece; its powers are dormant and by the laws of the game it is temporarily reduced to an inert mass, and deprived of every faculty normally appertaining to it as a Chess-piece. On the other hand, as is equally obvious, the pinning piece is in full possession of its normal powers and is qualified to perform every function.
To hold that a piece disqualified by the laws of the game can nullify the activities of a piece in full possession of its powers, is to assert that black is white, that the moon is made of green cheese, that the tail can wag the dog, or any other of those things which have led the German to promulgate his caustic formula on the Anglo-Saxon.
Hence, artificially to nullify the normal powers of an active and potential piece which is operating in conformity to the laws of the game, and artificially to revivify the dormant powers of a piece disqualified by the same laws; to debar the former from exercising its legitimate functions and to permit the latter to exercise functions from which by law, it specifically is debarred, is a self-evident incongruity and any argument whereby such procedure is upheld, necessarily and obviously, is sophistry.