Fork: queen to c5 (b4)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2264 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 g5, rook d1, bishop c6, pawn a2 g2 h2 b3 c4 e6.
Black: king g7, queen b4, bishop c8, knight f5, pawn f4 h5 a6 b6 g6.
10 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 31.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (23 against 20; 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 g7.
It is Black to move on move 31, with 31 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): d — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c, e.
The Black king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
31... Qc5+ 32. Kh1 Ng3+ 33. Qxg3 fxg3
Why it works
- Great move! queen to c5 keeps the pressure (+4.5).
- Well found: knight to g3 (+4.8).
- Strong! pawn to g3 is the sharp choice (+4.8).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kh1, then Ng3+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 31… Qc5+ — queen to c5 with check
- 32. Kh1 — king to h1
- Ng3+ — knight to g3 with check
- 33. Qxg3 — queen to g3 (capture)
- fxg3 — pawn to g3 (capture)
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.
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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