Discovered attack: knight to f6 (e4·3)
li-03uhfnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 1379 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
White 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 h1, queen c2, rook d1 e1, bishop b3 h4, knight e4, pawn a2 b2 f2 g2 h3 d4.
Black: king g8, queen c7, rook a8 f8, bishop f5 d6, knight b6, pawn c6 h6 a7 b7 f7 g7.
13 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 34 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h1, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 21, with 43 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c.
The White king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
21. Nf6+ Kh8 22. Qxf5
Why it works
- Great move! knight to f6 keeps the pressure (+6.1).
- Well found: queen to f5 (+6.0).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Kh8, then Qxf5 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 21. Nf6+ — knight to f6 with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 22. Qxf5 — queen to f5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Clearance
Clear your own piece out of the way — with tempo — for the decisive blow.
Clearance is about your own piece standing in the way of the decisive blow — so you move it aside, or even throw it away. The key is to clear with tempo: jump off with a check, a capture or a threat, giving the opponent no time to regroup. The telltale sign: you see a crushing queen or rook move, but one of your own pieces blocks the line or occupies the square. Do not cling to it — a clearance sacrifice usually costs less than a missed attack.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 010
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