Fork: knight to f2 (d3)
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The tactical motive
Discovered attack: one piece steps aside, unleashing another's attack.
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2553 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
Black to move — find the best continuation
How to recognize this tactic
A discovered attack fires when one piece steps aside and unmasks the piece behind it. Look for your own units that block a rook, bishop or queen: moving the front piece — ideally with a threat of its own — springs two attacks in one move.
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 f1, queen d1, rook a1 h1, bishop c1 b3, knight e3 h4, pawn a2 b2 f2 g3 c4 d5 g6 h6.
Black: king g8, queen d8, rook a8 f8, bishop e7 c8, knight d3 b4, pawn e4 c5 a7 b7 d7 h7.
16 white and 14 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 19.
The position in numbers
White are ahead by 2 points of material (39 against 37; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on f1, the black king on g8.
It is Black to move on move 19, with 34 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 8 pawns, Black 6. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for Black: f, g.
The Black king has 1 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
19... Nxf2 20. Qh5 Nxh1+ 21. Kg2 Bxh4
Why it works
- Best move. knight to f2 is exactly what the engine plays (+1.8).
- Well found: knight to h1 (+2.3).
- Strong! bishop to h4 is the sharp choice (+2.2).
- You win a piece — the rook.
- If instead Qh5, then Nxh1+ and you win the rook.
Move by move
- 19… Nxf2 — knight to f2 (capture)
- 20. Qh5 — queen to h5
- Nxh1+ — knight to h1 (capture) with check
- 21. Kg2 — king to g2
- Bxh4 — bishop to h4 (capture)
Types in this puzzle
Knight fork
One knight move attacks two targets at once — the opponent can only save one.
A fork is one move that attacks two targets at once, and no piece forks better than the knight. Look through the knight's eyes: it jumps in an L and never moves along straight lines, which is exactly why its threats get missed. Both victims of a knight fork always stand on squares of one color, while the knight strikes from the opposite color. Hunt for the square from which the knight hits the king and a heavy piece at once.
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.
Discovered check
The moving piece opens a check — and is free to grab anything meanwhile.
With a discovered check the moving piece unmasks a check from the piece standing behind it. While the king deals with the check, the piece that moved grabs whatever it likes, free of charge. Look for your long-range piece on a line with the enemy king, with exactly one of your own pieces in between. The rule: among all the ways to step aside, pick the one that captures or attacks the most expensive loot.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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