Fork: queen to f3 (f6)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1636 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 g2, queen b5, rook d1 f1, knight f3, pawn b2 f2 h2 a3 d3 g3 c5.
Black: king g8, queen f6, rook d8 f8, knight c6, pawn a7 b7 c7 f7 g7 h7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 18.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (29 against 28; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g2, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 18, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 7 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: d.
The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
18... Qxf3+ 19. Kxf3 Nd4+ 20. Kg2 Nxb5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f3 keeps the pressure (+4.3).
- Well found: knight to d4 (+4.7).
- Strong! knight to b5 is the sharp choice (+4.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxf3, then Nd4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 18… Qxf3+ — queen to f3 (capture) with check
- 19. Kxf3 — king to f3 (capture)
- Nd4+ — knight to d4 with check
- 20. Kg2 — king to g2
- Nxb5 — knight to b5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
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.
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 013
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