Discovered attack: queen to f4
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 2022 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 f2, queen f4, rook g8, bishop d2 e2, knight c3, pawn a2 b2 c2.
Black: king c8, queen f6, rook d8, bishop f8, pawn e6 a7 b7 c7 f7 h7.
9 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (26 against 23; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f2, the black king on c8.
It is Black to move on move 24, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
24... Qxf4+ 25. Bxf4 Bc5+ 26. Kf3 Rxg8
Why it works
- Brilliant! The queen on f4 is a sacrifice that works — you stand better (+2.3).
- Well found: bishop to c5 (+2.4).
- Strong! rook to g8 is the sharp choice (+2.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxf4, then Bc5+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24… Qxf4+ — queen to f4 (capture) with check
- 25. Bxf4 — bishop to f4 (capture)
- Bc5+ — bishop to c5 with check
- 26. Kf3 — king to f3
- Rxg8 — rook to g8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
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.
Simplification
Trade the heavy pieces and steer into a won endgame.
Simplification is how you convert an advantage: by trading queens and rooks you extinguish the counterplay and steer the game into a won endgame. The rule is simple — the side with extra material trades pieces but keeps pawns. Look for exchanges once the material is already won and your opponent is still rattling threats. The mistake is avoiding the queen trade and letting him muddy the water forever.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 014
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