Double attack: pawn to f6
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The tactical motive
Double attack: one move creates two threats at once.
Save the piece: one of your pieces is attacked — find the best way to rescue it.
Difficulty 2301 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
White to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A double attack threatens two things at once so the opponent cannot parry both. Look for a single move — often a queen or knight — that creates two separate threats, such as a check plus an attack on a loose piece.
Here the task is defensive: one of your pieces is under attack and must be rescued without losing more. Look for a move that saves it with tempo — a counter-check, an equal counter-attack or an interposition — rather than a passive retreat.
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 h1, queen f5, rook g1, bishop c2, pawn a2 h2 b4 c4 g5.
Black: king g7, queen h4, rook f2, bishop f6, knight f8, pawn b6 a7.
9 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 35.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 22 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on h1, the black king on g7.
It is White to move on move 35, with 40 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 2. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e, f — natural highways for the rooks and queen.
The White king has 0 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
35. gxf6+ Kh8 36. Qe5
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to f6 keeps the pressure (+6.0).
- Well found: queen to e5 (+7.1).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Kh8, then Qe5 and you win the bishop.
Move by move
- 35. gxf6+ — pawn to f6 (capture) with check
- Kh8 — king to h8
- 36. Qe5 — queen to e5
Types in this puzzle
Discovered attack
A piece steps aside and opens a second attack from the piece behind it.
A discovered attack works like a curtain: one piece steps off the line and unveils the long-range piece behind it. The beauty is that the moving piece can create a second threat of its own — two attacks in one move. Look for your stacked pairs: a bishop or rook behind a knight or pawn, aimed through them at something valuable. Send the front piece to the most aggressive square — a discovery without a second threat wastes half its power.
Mate defense
Mate is threatened — parry it and stay on top.
Mate defense: your opponent is one move from mating you — but it is your turn, and that changes everything. Find the defense that kills the mating threat while keeping your advantage: often a check or a counter-threat that leaves no time for the mate. First name the exact square where the mate would land — otherwise you are defending blind. The mistake is playing a "defensive" move that does not actually remove the threat.
Double check
Two pieces give check at once — only a king move can answer.
A double check is check from two pieces at once: the one that moved and the one it unveiled. Blocking or capturing is useless against two checks — only a king move helps. Look for a discovered check where the front piece can give check as well. It is the most forcing move in chess: you may even hang your queen with it, because nobody has time to take her.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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