Fork: queen to e8 (h5)
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2354 ShuffleRating — expert level — few solve it at first try.
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 d1, queen h5, bishop c1, knight d5, pawn a2 f2 d3 h3 f4.
Black: king c8, queen a1, rook h8, bishop f8, knight g8, pawn f5 b6 h6 a7 c7 e7 g7.
9 white and 12 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 20.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 7 points of material (20 against 27; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on d1, the black king on c8.
It is White to move on move 20, with 26 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 7. No file is fully open, so the heavy pieces have to be pried in. Half-open for White: b, c, e, g.
The White king has 4 empty squares to step to right now — the fewer they are, the closer a mating net.
Solution & explanation
Main line
20. Qe8+ Kb7 21. Qd7 Qc3 22. Nxc3
Why it works
- Great move! queen to e8 keeps the pressure (+5.2).
- Well found: queen to d7 (+5.4).
- Strong! knight to c3 is the sharp choice (+5.5).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead Kb7, then Qd7 and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 20. Qe8+ — queen to e8 with check
- Kb7 — king to b7
- 21. Qd7 — queen to d7
- Qc3 — queen to c3
- 22. Nxc3 — knight to c3 (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 015
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