Fork: rook to d4
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1575 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 b1, queen c2, rook d1, bishop b4, knight f7, pawn a2 b2.
Black: king b8, queen f4, rook d4, bishop h8, knight b6, pawn e4 f5 c6 a7 b7.
7 white and 10 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 27.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (22 against 25; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 27, with 41 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 2 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, g, h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: c, e, f.
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
27. Rxd4 Bxd4 28. Bd6+ Qxd6 29. Nxd6
Why it works
- Great move! rook to d4 keeps the pressure (+4.7).
- Well found: bishop to d6 (+4.8).
- Strong! knight to d6 is the sharp choice (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxd4, then Bd6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 27. Rxd4 — rook to d4 (capture)
- Bxd4 — bishop to d4 (capture)
- 28. Bd6+ — bishop to d6 with check
- Qxd6 — queen to d6 (capture)
- 29. Nxd6 — knight to d6 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Counter-strike
Don't defend — answer the threat with a bigger one.
The counter-strike: instead of defending against the threat, you answer with a bigger threat of your own. While your opponent grabs a pawn, you deliver mate — the arithmetic favors you. Look for a counter when direct defenses fail: do you have a check, an attack on the queen, a mating threat? The beginner's error is meeting every threat with a reflexive defense without checking the counterattacking resources first.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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