Fork: queen to e1 (e7)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2382 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 g1, queen a5, rook a1 f3, bishop c1, knight b1, pawn a2 g2 h2 b3 c3 d4.
Black: king c8, queen e7, rook d6 h8, bishop g7, pawn f4 g5 a6 c6 h6 b7.
12 white and 11 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 17.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (31 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 g1, the black king on c8.
It is Black to move on move 17, with 36 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 Black: d.
The Black king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
17... Qe1+ 18. Rf1 Bxd4+ 19. cxd4 Qxa5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e1 keeps the pressure (+5.0).
- Well found: bishop to d4 (+4.8).
- Strong! queen to a5 is the sharp choice (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Rf1, then Bxd4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 17… Qe1+ — queen to e1 with check
- 18. Rf1 — rook to f1
- Bxd4+ — bishop to d4 (capture) with check
- 19. cxd4 — pawn to d4 (capture)
- Qxa5 — queen to a5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Relative pin
A piece shields a more valuable one behind it — moving it loses material.
In a relative pin the piece shields not its king but something valuable behind it, usually the queen. Moving is legal but costly, because the piece behind falls. Look for three units on one line: your long-range piece, a cheaper enemy piece, and an expensive one hiding behind. Beware the classic trap — a relatively pinned piece can still move with check or a bigger threat, so verify before you cash in.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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