Fork: knight to c4 (a5)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1992 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 e1, rook a1 f1, bishop d2 d3, knight c4, pawn a2 b2 g2 h2 d4 f4.
Black: king g8, queen d8, rook a8 f8, bishop g7, knight a5, pawn c5 g6 a7 b7 e7 f7 h7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (34 against 32; 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 15, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for Black: d.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
15... Nxc4 16. Bxc4 Qxd4+ 17. Rf2 Qxc4
Why it works
- Brilliant! The knight on c4 is a sacrifice that works — you are winning (+3.0).
- Well found: queen to d4 (+3.1).
- Strong! queen to c4 is the sharp choice (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Bxc4, then Qxd4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 15… Nxc4 — knight to c4 (capture)
- 16. Bxc4 — bishop to c4 (capture)
- Qxd4+ — queen to d4 (capture) with check
- 17. Rf2 — rook to f2
- Qxc4 — queen to c4 (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.
Winning exchange
A forced series of captures on one square ends in your favour.
A winning exchange is a forced series of captures on one square that leaves you ahead in material. It is pure arithmetic: count the attackers and defenders of the square and note the value of every piece in the queue. Capture in the right order — cheap pieces first, expensive ones later — or a winning trade turns into a losing one. The classic error is stopping the count halfway and missing the opponent's final recapture.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 014
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