Fork: queen to f6 (g5)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1946 ShuffleRating — for advanced tacticians.
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 g1, queen g5, rook a1 f1, bishop c1, knight f4 h6, pawn b2 g2 h2 a3 e3 f3.
Black: king h8, queen d7, rook e5 a8, bishop b7 f8, knight c6, pawn d4 d5 b6 g6 a7 f7 h7.
13 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (34 against 35; 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 h8.
It is White to move on move 20, with 38 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 7. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: d.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. The White king has 2 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. Qf6+ Bg7 21. Nxf7+ Kg8 22. Nxe5
Why it works
- Great move! queen to f6 keeps the pressure (+3.0).
- Well found: knight to f7 (+3.2).
- Strong! knight to e5 is the sharp choice (+3.0).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Bg7, then Nxf7+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 20. Qf6+ — queen to f6 with check
- Bg7 — bishop to g7
- 21. Nxf7+ — knight to f7 (capture) with check
- Kg8 — king to g8
- 22. Nxe5 — knight to e5 (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.
Relative pin
A piece shields a more valuable one behind it — moving it loses material.
In a relative pin the piece shields not its king but something valuable behind it, usually the queen. Moving is legal but costly, because the piece behind falls. Look for three units on one line: your long-range piece, a cheaper enemy piece, and an expensive one hiding behind. Beware the classic trap — a relatively pinned piece can still move with check or a bigger threat, so verify before you cash in.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 014
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