Fork: rook to b4
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2259 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 d1, queen c6, rook c4, knight d5, pawn a2 d4 h4 g6.
Black: king b8, queen b2, rook e6 e8, pawn h6 a7 g7.
8 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 43.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (21 against 22; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 43, with 30 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): b, c, 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
43. Rb4+ Qxb4 44. Qc7+ Ka8 45. Nxb4
Why it works
- Great move! rook to b4 keeps the pressure (+5.6).
- Well found: queen to c7 (+5.6).
- Strong! knight to b4 is the sharp choice (+5.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qxb4, then Qc7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 43. Rb4+ — rook to b4 with check
- Qxb4 — queen to b4 (capture)
- 44. Qc7+ — queen to c7 with check
- Ka8 — king to a8
- 45. Nxb4 — knight to b4 (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.
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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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