Forks with every piece
In short
Forks become easier to find when you look for targets first: the king, the queen, undefended pieces, and pieces of higher value than your forker. When two targets are a knight’s jump apart, or on lines a queen can hit together, a fork may be near.
By the end you can
- Find forks by knights, queens, pawns and kings
- Lure pieces onto forkable squares
The lesson
Forks become easier to find when you look for targets first: the king, the queen, undefended pieces, and pieces of higher value than your forker. When two targets are a knight’s jump apart, or on lines a queen can hit together, a fork may be near.
Sometimes the fork isn’t there yet. A check or a capture can force an enemy piece onto a square where it can be forked next move. That two-move idea is your first real combination.
Pawn forks are often missed because pawns look harmless: a pawn advancing between two pieces attacks both, and both are worth more than the pawn.
Key points to remember
- Find the targets first
- Knight-jump or queen-line distance between targets
- Lure a piece onto a fork square
- Don’t forget pawn forks
Examples
Show the solution
40... Nd2+ 41. Ke2 Nxc4 42. a7 Nb6
Show the solution
25. Bg5+ Ke8 26. Rc8+ Kf7 27. Rxh8
Practise it
Solve puzzles on this idea: fork puzzles.
Homework
25 fork puzzles. Find one fork chance (made or missed) in your own games.
More tactics lessons
- Hanging pieces: take them and don’t leave them (Novice)
- Double attacks and forks (Novice)
- Pins: pieces that cannot move (Novice)
- Using and breaking pins (Class F)
- Skewers and x-rays (Class F)
- Discovered attacks and double check (Class F)