Fork: queen to h6
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2089 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 b1, queen g5, knight e2, pawn a2 c2 b3 f3 e5.
Black: king h8, queen b5, rook b8, bishop e6 f6, pawn c4 h5 a6 f7.
8 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 39.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (17 against 24; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on b1, the black king on h8.
It is White to move on move 39, with 31 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, g — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: h.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
39. Qh6+ Kg8 40. exf6 Qg5 41. Qxg5+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h6 keeps the pressure (+8.3).
- Well found: pawn to f6 (+8.5).
- Strong! queen to g5 is the sharp choice (+8.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kg8, then exf6 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 39. Qh6+ — queen to h6 with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 40. exf6 — pawn to f6 (capture)
- Qg5 — queen to g5
- 41. Qxg5+ — queen to g5 (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.
Remove the defender
Capture the guard first — then take what it protected.
Removing the defender is the straightforward plan: capture the guard first, then take what it guarded. Unlike deflection, the defender is not lured away — it is traded off or destroyed on the spot. Stare at the target you crave and ask who defends it, and whether that defender can be profitably eaten. Count the whole capture sequence, not just the first move — the trade must pay off at the end.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Verified by Stockfish at depth 20+.
Solution forcedness confirmed (verified).
Pack 015
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