Fork: knight to f3 (e5·4)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2232 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 d1, rook a1 f1, bishop c1, knight f3 e6, pawn b2 c2 d2 g2 h2 a3.
Black: king c8, queen c7, rook d8 h8, bishop f8, knight d5 e5, pawn a6 h6 b7 e7 g7.
13 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 15.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 1 points of material (34 against 33; 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 15, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): f — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c, 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
15... Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3 Qb6+ 17. Kh1 Qxe6
Why it works
- Brilliant! The knight on f3 is a sacrifice that works — you stand better (+2.6).
- Well found: queen to b6 (+2.6).
- Strong! queen to e6 is the sharp choice (+2.8).
- You win a piece — the knight.
- If instead Qxf3, then Qb6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 15… Nxf3+ — knight to f3 (capture) with check
- 16. Qxf3 — queen to f3 (capture)
- Qb6+ — queen to b6 with check
- 17. Kh1 — king to h1
- Qxe6 — queen to e6 (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.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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