Fork: knight to e4 (c5)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1960 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 g3, queen c2, rook c3 f3, bishop b2, pawn a3 h3 b4 f4.
Black: king g8, queen a7, rook d8, bishop e7, knight c5, pawn a6 e6 g7 h7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 37.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (26 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g3, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 37, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c, d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: b, f.
The Black king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
37... Ne4+ 38. Kg2 Rd2+ 39. Qxd2 Nxd2
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e4 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- Well found: rook to d2 (+5.0).
- Strong! knight to d2 is the sharp choice (+5.1).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg2, then Rd2+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 37… Ne4+ — knight to e4 with check
- 38. Kg2 — king to g2
- Rd2+ — rook to d2 with check
- 39. Qxd2 — queen to d2 (capture)
- Nxd2 — knight to d2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 014
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