Fork: rook to d6
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 961 ShuffleRating — for beginners taking their first steps in Chess960 tactics.
White 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 h2, queen f4, rook d1, pawn f2 c3 g3 a5.
Black: king g6, queen c6, rook e4, pawn c4 f5 h6 a7 b7.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 36.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (18 against 19; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h2, the black king on g6.
It is White to move on move 36, with 35 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): d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b, h.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
36. Rd6+ Qxd6 37. Qxd6+
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d6 keeps the pressure (+6.2).
- Well found: queen to d6 (+6.4).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxd6, then Qxd6+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 36. Rd6+ — rook to d6 with check
- Qxd6 — queen to d6 (capture)
- 37. Qxd6+ — queen to d6 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 005
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