Level 3 · 7 min · 12 puzzles
Forks: attack two things at once
One piece attacks two. They can only save one.
Practise it
Black to move
Find the move that attacks two pieces at once.
White just moved the rook from f1 to f2.
- 1A fork attacks two things at once, so only one can be saved.
- 2Check your forking piece is not simply captured.
- 3Watch for your opponent’s knight forks too.
The longer explanation
One move, two targets. A fork is a move where one piece attacks two enemy pieces at the same time. Your opponent can only save one, so you take the other.
Knights are the best at it. A knight jumps, so nothing can block it, and it attacks eight squares in an unusual pattern that people forget to watch. A knight fork on a king and a queen has won countless games. Pawns, bishops and queens can fork too.
How to find one. Look at your opponent’s most valuable pieces and ask: is there a square where one of my pieces would attack two of them? And check that your forking piece cannot simply be taken.