Fork: queen to e4 (c6)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2080 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 d2, queen c7, bishop f1 f4, knight d4, pawn a2 b2 c2 g3.
Black: king g8, queen c6, rook e8, bishop g6, pawn a7 b7 f7 g7 h7.
9 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 21.
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 d2, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 21, with 45 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 4 pawns, Black 5. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for Black: c.
White hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
21... Qe4 22. Kc3 Qe1+ 23. Bd2 Qxf1
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e4 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Well found: queen to e1 (+4.3).
- Strong! queen to f1 is the sharp choice (+4.2).
- You win a piece — the bishop.
- If instead Kc3, then Qe1+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 21… Qe4 — queen to e4
- 22. Kc3 — king to c3
- Qe1+ — queen to e1 with check
- 23. Bd2 — bishop to d2
- Qxf1 — queen to f1 (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.
Quiet move
No check, no capture — yet this modest move decides the game.
A quiet move gives no check and takes nothing — yet it decides the game by creating an unstoppable threat or stealing the king's last square. This is the hardest class of moves: the eye hunts for loud blows while a modest shift does the winning. The clue: every forcing try runs into a defense, so seek the move that strengthens the threat or takes squares away. Train yourself to ask: what if I neither capture nor check, but quietly improve?
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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