Discovered attack: knight to f1
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 1193 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A discovered attack fires when one piece steps aside and unmasks the piece behind it. Look for your own units that block a rook, bishop or queen: moving the front piece — ideally with a threat of its own — springs two attacks in one move.
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 h2, rook e2, knight e5, pawn g2 h3 b4.
Black: king f8, rook c1, knight d2, pawn b5 f7 g7.
6 white and 6 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 48.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 11 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h2, the black king on f8.
It is Black to move on move 48, with 27 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: h.
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
48... Nf1+ 49. Kg1 Ng3+ 50. Kf2 Nxe2
Why it works
- Great move! knight to f1 keeps the pressure (+5.0).
- Well found: knight to g3 (+4.9).
- Strong! knight to e2 is the sharp choice (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Kg1, then Ng3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 48… Nf1+ — knight to f1 with check
- 49. Kg1 — king to g1
- Ng3+ — knight to g3 with check
- 50. Kf2 — king to f2
- Nxe2 — knight to e2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
Endgame tactic
Tactics live in the endgame too — strike while material is scarce.
Tactics do not retire when the queens come off: forks, pins and double attacks live on in the endgame. With so little material left, every tactical loss is almost always decisive. The signs are the usual ones — undefended pieces, king and piece on one line, a pawn about to promote. Even in a "technical" ending, scan for a shot before every move, both yours and your opponent's.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 007
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