Zwischenzug (in-between move): a common chess weakness

An in-between move wins before you recapture

The opponent captures and you recapture on reflex. A zwischenzug inserts a more forcing move first, usually a check, then recaptures anyway, winning material or a decisive tempo. You play the automatic recapture and miss it.

• vs game: instead of recapturing at once, an in-between check forced the king to move, and the recapture then came with the king worse off.
• vs puzzle: a forcing check inserted before the obvious recapture won a whole piece.