The Fork (Double Attack)

The fork is the heart of all chess tactics. It can be done with any piece (Including pawns and kings!) and it is a very common tactic. Let’s dive in.

We will do Knight Forks first.

1. The Knight Fork

A knight is a very good piece for forking. Let’s take a look. 

(the knight threatens the king and the queen)

A fork of a king and a queen is called a Royal Fork. Here is everyone’s favorite knight fork.

(The Knight threatens the king, the queen, and both rooks at the same time!)

This is called a Family Fork.

Puzzles on Knight Forks

2. Queen Forks

A queen is also a great piece for forking. The queen’s long range abilities give her the ability to fork at long range.

Here, a queen is forking a king and a rook.

(long range)

A fork can also threaten a piece and mate, like this variation of the French defense.

Notice how with 12. Qe4, White threatens mate on h7 and the rook on a8. 10... b6?? was a blunder because it opens the long diagonal. Note: black was trying to get the bishop to b7. Black traditionally has a problem of developing the light squared bishop, which has been coined “the French bishop” in not very favorable terms. 

Queen Fork Puzzles

3. Rook Forks

Rooks are also good pieces for forks. Here’s a basic one.

Here’s another:

Rook Fork Puzzles

4. Pawn Forks

Examples:

Pawn Fork Puzzles

That is the end of our brief exploration of forks. Hope you learned something! I will post more about tactics. 

Regards, 

@chessdude970