Discovered attack: rook to f7 (f1)
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Difficulty 1590 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 g1, queen b3, rook a1 f1, bishop a2, pawn b2 g2 a3 c3 h3.
Black: king g8, queen d7, rook e3 a8, bishop g7, knight c6, pawn d4 a6 g6 b7 f7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 23.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (27 against 30; 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 23, 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): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d, f.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
23. Rxf7 Qe8 24. Re7+ Kh7 25. Rxe8
Why it works
- Great move! rook to f7 keeps the pressure (+2.7).
- A brilliant blow: rook to e7, and you stand better (+2.6).
- Stunning! rook to e8 gives up material but you stand better (+2.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qe8, then Re7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 23. Rxf7 — rook to f7 (capture)
- Qe8 — queen to e8
- 24. Re7+ — rook to e7 with check
- Kh7 — king to h7
- 25. Rxe8 — rook to e8 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Rook fork
The rook attacks two targets along rank and file at the same time.
A rook fork attacks two targets from one square — one along the file, the other along the rank. Look for enemy pieces standing at a right angle to each other, both visible from a single safe square. This is bread and butter in endgames, where a rook check picks up loose pieces and pawns along the way. Test every rook check you have: does it also hit something valuable on the other line?
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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