Fork: knight to e4 (g5)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1473 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 d2, rook a1, knight g5, pawn a2 b2 g2 h2 c3 d4.
Black: king g8, queen d7, rook e4, bishop h6, knight c6, pawn c4 g6 a7 b7 f7 h7.
10 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 24.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 3 points of material (23 against 26; 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 24, with 32 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: 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
24. Nxe4 Bxd2 25. Nf6+ Kf8 26. Nxd7+
Why it works
- Great move! knight to e4 keeps the pressure (+3.8).
- Well found: knight to f6 (+4.1).
- Strong! knight to d7 is the sharp choice (+4.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxd2, then Nf6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 24. Nxe4 — knight to e4 (capture)
- Bxd2 — bishop to d2 (capture)
- 25. Nf6+ — knight to f6 with check
- Kf8 — king to f8
- 26. Nxd7+ — knight to d7 (capture) with check
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.
Only move
Everything else loses — find the only move that holds.
An only move is a position where everything loses except one single continuation. You cannot play "by hand" here: run through fundamentally different defenses — run away, block, trade, counterattack — and discard the ones that fail. The hallmark of these puzzles is that the obvious moves lose quickly while the solution often looks strange. First understand exactly what the threat is — then the one saving move reveals itself.
Simplification
Trade the heavy pieces and steer into a won endgame.
Simplification is how you convert an advantage: by trading queens and rooks you extinguish the counterplay and steer the game into a won endgame. The rule is simple — the side with extra material trades pieces but keeps pawns. Look for exchanges once the material is already won and your opponent is still rattling threats. The mistake is avoiding the queen trade and letting him muddy the water forever.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 011
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