Fork: queen to b8 (e5)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1824 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 e5, rook d4, pawn b2 f2 g2 h3.
Black: king g8, queen c6, rook c2, pawn a4 a5 g6 f7 g7.
7 white and 8 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 33.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 1 points of material (18 against 19; 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 g8.
It is White to move on move 33, with 46 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): c, d, e — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a.
The White king has 3 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
33. Qb8+ Qc8 34. Rd8+ Qxd8 35. Qxd8+
Why it works
- Great move! queen to b8 keeps the pressure (+4.4).
- Well found: rook to d8 (+5.2).
- Strong! queen to d8 is the sharp choice (+5.0).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Qc8, then Rd8+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 33. Qb8+ — queen to b8 with check
- Qc8 — queen to c8
- 34. Rd8+ — rook to d8 with check
- Qxd8 — queen to d8 (capture)
- 35. Qxd8+ — queen to d8 (capture) with check
Types in this puzzle
Win the pinned piece
The pinned piece cannot run — attack it again and win it.
A pinned piece cannot flee, which means you can win it outright by attacking it one more time. Count attackers against defenders: if you outnumber them, the piece is yours. The best extra attacker is a pawn, since it costs less than anything it might capture. Do not rush the capture — build up the pressure first, then harvest.
Check chase
Every move is a check — the king is chased into losing ground.
In a check chase every one of your moves is a check, so the opponent never gets a free second. The king is herded across the board until it loses a piece or walks into a decisive blow. Such lines are the easiest to calculate: each check allows only a handful of replies, so try them all. Make it a habit to start calculating any sharp position with the checks — they are the most forcing moves on the board.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 013
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