Fork: pawn to d5
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1360 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 d1, rook a1 f1, bishop c1 c4, knight f3, pawn c2 f2 g2 h2 a3 d3 b4 e4.
Black: king g8, queen d8, rook a8 f8, bishop b6 e6, knight d5 c6, pawn e5 d6 a7 b7 c7 f7 g7 h7.
15 white and 16 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 10.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (36 against 39; 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 g8.
It is White to move on move 10, with 33 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 8. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in.
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
10. exd5 Bg4 11. dxc6
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to d5 keeps the pressure (+3.1).
- Well found: pawn to c6 (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Bg4, then dxc6 and you win the knight.
Move by move
- 10. exd5 — pawn to d5 (capture)
- Bg4 — bishop to g4
- 11. dxc6 — pawn to c6 (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 010
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