Fork: pawn to g3
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1874 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 d1, rook a1 e1, bishop c2 e5, pawn a2 b2 h2 c3 f3 g3 d4.
Black: king g8, queen h5, rook a8 f8, bishop b7, pawn c4 f4 b5 g5 a6 h7.
13 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 4 points of material (32 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 26, with 32 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.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
26... fxg3 27. Bxg3 Bxf3+ 28. Kg1 Bxd1
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to g3 keeps the pressure (+3.3).
- Well found: bishop to f3 (+3.5).
- Strong! bishop to d1 is the sharp choice (+3.4).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Bxg3, then Bxf3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 26… fxg3 — pawn to g3 (capture)
- 27. Bxg3 — bishop to g3 (capture)
- Bxf3+ — bishop to f3 (capture) with check
- 28. Kg1 — king to g1
- Bxd1 — bishop to d1 (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.
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.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 014
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