Fork: knight to e4 (f6)
li-06YiMnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1519 ShuffleRating — club-player level.
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 h1, queen e2, rook d6, knight e4, pawn b2 c2 g2 a3 h3.
Black: king g8, queen e6, rook f8, knight f6, pawn e5 c6 h6 a7 g7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 25.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 22 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 Black to move on move 25, with 35 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: b.
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
25... Nxe4 26. Rxe6 Ng3+ 27. Kh2 Nxe2
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e4 keeps the pressure (+3.6).
- Well found: knight to g3 (+3.8).
- Strong! knight to e2 is the sharp choice (+3.7).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rxe6, then Ng3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 25… Nxe4 — knight to e4 (capture)
- 26. Rxe6 — rook to e6 (capture)
- Ng3+ — knight to g3 with check
- 27. Kh2 — king to h2
- Nxe2 — knight to e2 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Royal fork
A fork with check: the king must move, and the second piece is lost.
A royal fork is a fork with check — one of the two targets is the king itself. The check must be answered first, so nobody is left to rescue the second piece. Look for squares where your piece gives check and simultaneously attacks an undefended queen or rook. It is the most reliable fork of all, because your opponent literally has no choice.
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.
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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