Fork: rook to f3
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1575 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A fork is one piece attacking two targets at once. Look for a knight, pawn or queen move that lands where it hits the king (or a bigger piece) and a second undefended unit on the same turn — the opponent can save only one.
General method: before you move, list the forcing candidates — every check, every capture, every direct threat — and calculate those first. The solution to a tactic is almost always among them.
Position on the board
White: king g1, queen c7, rook a1 f3, bishop e2, pawn a2 g2 h2 e5.
Black: king g8, queen h4, rook f4 e8, pawn b6 h6 a7 f7 g7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 22.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (26 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g1, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 22, with 39 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: e.
The Black king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
22... Rxf3 23. gxf3 Qd4+ 24. Kg2 Qxa1
Why it works
- Great move! rook to f3 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Well found: queen to d4 (+5.0).
- Strong! queen to a1 is the sharp choice (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead gxf3, then Qd4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 22… Rxf3 — rook to f3 (capture)
- 23. gxf3 — pawn to f3 (capture)
- Qd4+ — queen to d4 with check
- 24. Kg2 — king to g2
- Qxa1 — queen to a1 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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