Forks

How to spot it

A fork is one move that attacks two targets at once. Your opponent can answer only one threat, so you win the other. Knights are the famous forkers because their jumps are hard to see, but pawns, bishops, rooks, queens and even kings fork too.

To spot a fork, list the targets first: the king, the queen, rooks, and any loose piece (a piece nobody defends). Then ask: is there one square from which one of my pieces hits two of them? For a knight, look for two targets that are both a knight jump away from the same empty square, such as a king on g8 and a queen on d8 sharing the fork square f7.

Forks with check are the strongest, because the opponent must answer the check and has no time to save the second piece. “Loose pieces drop off”: an undefended piece is the most common second target.

In the harder puzzles the fork square is guarded, or a target is not yet on the right square. Then an exchange, a sacrifice or a check comes first, to remove the guard or to drag the king or queen onto the fork.

Puzzles

12 puzzles, rated 700 to 1850. A wrong move shows the engine’s refutation, and a missed puzzle comes back for review.