Fork: knight to d5 (c3·2)
li-0KgOvnaming tag (square·N)Opens in the app if installed, otherwise downloads the APK.
The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 1959 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 b2, queen d3, rook e2, knight c3 e5, pawn f2 a3 e3 g3 d4 h4.
Black: king b8, queen h5, rook e7 c8, bishop b6, pawn d5 f5 a6 b7.
11 white and 9 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 41.
The position in numbers
Material is level — 26 points of pieces on each side (pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9).
The white king stands on b2, the black king on b8.
It is White to move on move 41, with 37 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 6 pawns, Black 4. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): c — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: b.
The White king has 6 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
41. Nxd5 Rxe5 42. dxe5
Why it works
- Great move! knight to d5 keeps the pressure (+2.8).
- Well found: pawn to e5 (+2.7).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Rxe5, then dxe5 and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 41. Nxd5 — knight to d5 (capture)
- Rxe5 — rook to e5 (capture)
- 42. dxe5 — pawn to e5 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Winning blow
Find the strike that wins material by force.
A winning blow is a forced material gain that does not fit a single textbook motif. The general tactical recipe applies: spot loose pieces, an awkwardly placed king, overloaded lines. Go through the forcing moves in order of violence — checks, captures, threats — because most combinations start with one of them. Do not judge by feel: calculate the concrete line until the outcome is beyond doubt.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 014
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