Fork: queen to h1
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The tactical motive
Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once — they can't both be saved.
Difficulty 2130 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 g2, queen d1, rook a1 h6, knight b3 d5, pawn b2 f3 g3 c4 e4.
Black: king g8, queen d7, rook b8 f8, bishop f6 g6, knight e6, pawn e5 b6 d6 a7 f7 g7.
11 white and 13 black pieces are on the board; the puzzle position arises after move 26.
The position in numbers
Black are ahead by 4 points of material (30 against 34; pawn = 1, knight and bishop = 3, rook = 5, queen = 9) — the tactic has to convert or outweigh that.
The white king stands on g2, the black king on g8.
It is White to move on move 26, with 49 legal replies to weigh — only the line that keeps the advantage solves the puzzle.
White keeps 5 pawns, Black 6. Files fully open (no pawns of either colour): h — natural highways for the rooks and queen. Half-open for White: a, d.
Black hold the bishop pair, an edge in open lines. 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
26. Qh1 gxh6 27. Nxf6+ Kg7 28. Nxd7
Why it works
- Great move! queen to h1 keeps the pressure (+4.1).
- Well found: knight to f6 (+4.3).
- Strong! knight to d7 is the sharp choice (+4.6).
- You win a piece — the queen.
- If instead gxh6, then Nxf6+ and you stay on top.
Move by move
- 26. Qh1 — queen to h1
- gxh6 — pawn to h6 (capture)
- 27. Nxf6+ — knight to f6 (capture) with check
- Kg7 — king to g7
- 28. Nxd7 — knight to d7 (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.
Sacrifice attack
Give up material to unleash a decisive attack.
A sacrificial attack gives up material on purpose to rip the king's shelter open and launch a decisive assault. The sac is sound when you get concrete assets in return: open lines to the king, tempi, pieces ready to pour in. The signs: a poorly sheltered king, your forces aimed at its home, defenders stranded far away. The iron rule is to calculate, not hope — once the material is gone, there is no way back.
Provenance
Derived from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).
Pack 015
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