Learn the quinte parry in sabre: protecting the head, pronated hand, closing the line, FIE rules, common mistakes and safety notes for beginners.
What do I do when a cut comes toward my head? The honest answer: you raise your hand above the mask and close the line above. In sabre the head belongs to the target [1]. The FIE glossary describes the head as the part of the target made up of the top of the mask [2]. Alongside tierce and quarte, the quinte is one of the three most important parries in sabre [1].
Why learn it early? Because the head cut is a classic attack in sabre (practice). A clean quinte saves you hits and gives you the start for the riposte.
Realistically: you learn the hand position in one training session. The feel for the right moment needs repetitions with a real partner – that is experience, not a study result.
The quinte belongs to the four positions with a pronated hand, in which the palm faces the floor (prime, seconde, tierce, quinte) [2]. The hand lies on the grip from above, as in the tierce.
Raise the hand so that the top of the mask is covered by the arm and the blade. The blade tip points diagonally to the side, not up in the air (practice standard). Your coach will show you the exact angle.
Under FIE rules the parry against cuts counts as correct if, before the attack is completed, it prevents the cut from arriving by closing the line in which it is to end [3]. A correctly executed parry is even judged as a parry when the opponent's tip touches the target because of the blade's flexibility [3]. So you need not fear the blade whipping on.
Under the rules, defensive actions are made exclusively with the weapon [3]. Anyone who uses the free hand or free arm for attack or defence gets a red card, and their hit is annulled [3].
The parry gives you the right to riposte; to stop the attacker it must come without hesitation or pause [3]. After the quinte, a counter-cut to the opponent's arm or chest is an obvious route (practice).
Milestone: if you intercept at least 18 of 20 slow head cuts with the quinte without the hand dropping below the mask, and can riposte immediately each time, you move on to the parries of the thrusting weapons or to the circular parry. That is a practice standard, not a study value.
The head needs the mask, always. The mask must conform to the regulations; jacket, trousers, mask and blades must meet the FIE test standards and carry a test mark [1]. Even as a beginner you wear full protective clothing in training; according to the Hessian Fencing Association this also applies to club training [1]. At official FIE competitions the FIE even requires at least mask and glove for warming up and for lessons on site [3].
Also: hands are vulnerable. There have been cases where unbroken sabre blades penetrated hands. The FIE therefore introduced new, compulsory glove standards in international competition from 1 April 2014 [5]. Never practise head cuts at full force, only controlled and pre-agreed. This guide explains and motivates – it does not replace supervised training.
If you know the stimulus, you react faster. In a video experiment with ten beginners and ten experienced fencers, reaction time rose with the number of possible stimuli and responses (simple reaction < two options < four options). Beginners lagged 25.5 to 34.8 % behind the experienced fencers [4]. Use that: first practise the quinte against head cuts only, without mixing other cuts. Only when it is secure do you alternate between tierce and quinte. That way you train the decision in stages.
The quinte is one of the three most important sabre parries alongside tierce and quarte [1]. It protects the head: in sabre the head belongs to the target, and its valid part is the top of the mask [1][2].
The quinte belongs to the positions with a pronated hand, i.e. palm toward the floor [2]. It is the same hand position as for the tierce.
Yes, evading by ducking is allowed [3]. But it is forbidden to replace or cover the valid target with a non-valid body surface [3].
If you want to stop the attacker, yes: the riposte must come without hesitation or pause [3]. If you wait, your opponent may start again [3].
Flank Cut in Sabre Fencing: A Cut to the Target Beneath the Weapon Arm