Fork: pawn to g5
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2006 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 h4, queen d6, rook b8, pawn h3 d4 c7.
Black: king h7, rook e2, bishop d5, knight f6, pawn h5 f7 g7.
6 white and 7 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 40.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 3 points of material (17 against 14; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on h4, the black king on h7.
It is Black to move on move 40, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 3 pawns, Black 3. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): a, b, e — 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
40... g5+ 41. Kxg5 Ne4+ 42. Kxh5 Nxd6
Why it works
- Great move! pawn to g5 keeps the pressure (+3.0).
- Well found: knight to e4 (+3.4).
- Strong! knight to d6 is the sharp choice (+3.3).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kxg5, then Ne4+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 40… g5+ — pawn to g5 with check
- 41. Kxg5 — king to g5 (capture)
- Ne4+ — knight to e4 with check
- 42. Kxh5 — king to h5 (capture)
- Nxd6 — knight to d6 (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 014
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