Fork: knight to a7
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1458 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
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 g1, queen f2, rook a1, knight b5, pawn c2 a4 b4.
Black: king c8, queen c6, rook h2 d8, knight g2, pawn d6 g6 b7 c7 f7.
7 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (20 against 27; 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 c8.
It is White to move on move 24, with 35 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, f, g.
The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24. Na7+ Kb8 25. Nxc6+ bxc6 26. Kxh2
Why it works
- Great move! knight to a7 keeps the pressure (+5.6).
- Well found: knight to c6 (+5.6).
- Strong! king to h2 is the sharp choice (+5.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kb8, then Nxc6+ and you win the queen.
Move by move
- 24. Na7+ — knight to a7 with check
- Kb8 — king to b8
- 25. Nxc6+ — knight to c6 (capture) with check
- bxc6 — pawn to c6 (capture)
- 26. Kxh2 — king to h2 (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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