Real positions from rated games. Narrow them by motif, difficulty or rating, then solve or print each one.
5931 real-game Fork puzzles in this collection
What is a fork?
A fork is a single move that attacks two or more enemy targets at the same time, so the defender can only save one of them. Knights are the classic forking piece because their jump can touch a king, queen and rook at once, but every piece — even the king and pawns — can fork.
How to spot it
Look for enemy pieces standing on the same color complex a knight can reach, on shared diagonals for a bishop or queen, or on the same rank or file for a rook. Loose, undefended pieces are the raw material of every fork.
What this set trains
Fork puzzles build the habit of scanning for undefended targets before every move — the single most common winning pattern in club chess.
How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine
What a typical fork solution looks like
Sample: 25,000 fork puzzles (3.2% of all 779,739).
57.3% need 2 solver moves, 33.8% need 3 solver moves, 6.7% need 4 solver moves, 2.2% need 5 or more solver moves. Median rating: 1096 for the shortest solutions, 2295 for the longest.
34.1% open with a knight move. The first move captures in 31.7% and gives check in 78.5%; 6.7% end in checkmate, 20.2% involve a sacrifice, 50.3% have White to move.
31.7%first move captures
78.5%first move gives check
6.7%end in checkmate
20.2%involve a sacrifice
How many moves does the solver need?
2 solver moves
57.3% · median rating 1096
3 solver moves
33.8% · median rating 1595
4 solver moves
6.7% · median rating 1982
5+ solver moves
2.2% · median rating 2295
Which piece plays the key move?
Key move by a knight
34.1%
Key move by a queen
31.4%
Key move by a rook
17.4%
Key move by a bishop
11%
Key move by a pawn
5.7%
What does the solver win?
Most valuable capture: rook
39.8%
Most valuable capture: queen
32.3%
Most valuable capture: bishop
14.8%
Most valuable capture: knight
8.6%
Most valuable capture: pawn
2.4%
Captures nothing along the line
2.1%
Material balance along the whole line, counting every capture by both sides (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9):
No material gained (mating or positional)
4.9%
Up to 2 pawns’ worth
6.7%
3–4 points (about a minor piece)
32.3%
5–8 points (a rook or more)
41.7%
9 or more points (a queen’s worth)
14.4%
How much is left on the board?
28 or more pieces on the board
5.3%
21–27 pieces
32.8%
13–20 pieces
49.4%
12 pieces or fewer
12.5%
How it is counted: every puzzle in the sample is replayed move by move with a chess rules engine. A sacrifice means a piece that is captured on the very next ply and was worth more than what it captured itself (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9). Sample of 25,000 puzzles. Percentages are shares of the sample.
Where it happens
Where the key move lands
Where the solver’s first move ends, drawn from their own side (rank 1 is their back rank). Busiest squares: e7 (7%), f6 (5.8%), f7 (5.7%), e6 (5.5%), d5 (5.3%).
1.2
2
2.7
3.1
1.7
8
1.1
2.2
2.5
7
5.7
2.2
1.1
7
3.2
3.7
5.5
5.8
2.7
1.6
6
1.4
1.6
5.3
4.1
3.2
2
1.3
5
2.5
2.4
2
2.5
1.9
1.6
4
3
2
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Counted from the same 25,000-puzzle sample. Squares under 1% are left blank.
In the chess glossary
What the glossary says
Fork
A simultaneous attack by a single piece on two (or more) of the opponent's pieces (or other direct target, such as a mate threat). When the attacker is a knight the tactic is often specifically called a knight fork. Some sources state that only a knight can give a fork and that the term double attack is correct when another piece is involved, but this usage is rare.
Royal fork
A fork threatening the king and queen, typically performed with a knight.
Family fork
A knight fork that simultaneously attacks the enemy king (giving check), queen, and possibly other pieces. Also known as a family check.
Where this page comes from
The text above is adapted from
“Glossary of chess” on Wikipedia,
by its contributors. We kept only the definitions of the terms listed, removed citations, diagrams and navigation templates, and left the wording otherwise unchanged — nothing here was written or rewritten by AI.
The original is published under
CC BY-SA 4.0,
so this section is published under the same licence. You may share and
adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same
licence.
Puzzle positions, ratings and move sequences on this page come from real rated games (CC0 data), not from Wikipedia; theme write-ups and difficulty guides
elsewhere on this site are Chess Puzzle Print's own original work and are not covered by
this licence.
Study positions
The most-solved fork puzzles, from each difficulty level. Play each one on the board, then open the answer for the full line.
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Black to move · rating 856 · solved 22,570 times
· 2 solver moves to find. The solver captures a rook.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Rf7
Solution: Ng3+ → Kg2 → Nxf1
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Black to move · rating 1022 · solved 15,901 times
· 2 solver moves to find. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qxb4
Solution: Nc2+ → Ke2 → Nxb4
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White to move · rating 1132 · solved 18,090 times
· 2 solver moves to find. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qxd5
Solution: Nf6+ → Kf7 → Nfxd5
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Black to move · rating 1211 · solved 14,972 times
· 2 solver moves to find. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Kf1
Solution: Nh2+ → Kg2 → Nxf3
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Black to move · rating 1310 · solved 7,282 times
· 3 solver moves to find. The solver captures 2 pieces (rook, queen).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Kb1
Solution: Nd2+ → Ka1 → Nxb3+ → axb3 → Qxb7
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White to move · rating 1330 · solved 7,782 times
· 3 solver moves to find. It gives up the rook (Rxc6+) on the way. The solver captures 2 pieces (bishop, rook).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Rg2
Solution: Rxc6+ → Kxc6 → Be4+ → Kb6 → Bxg2
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Black to move · rating 1360 · solved 7,443 times
· 3 solver moves to find. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: b3
Solution: e2+ → Kb1 → Na3+ → Kb2 → Nxc2
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Black to move · rating 1612 · solved 3,195 times
· 3 solver moves to find. It gives up the rook (Rg5+) on the way. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qg8
Solution: Rh5+ → Kg2 → Rg5+ → Qxg5 → fxg5
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Black to move · rating 1646 · solved 3,532 times
· 3 solver moves to find. The solver captures 2 pieces (pawn, bishop).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: dxc4
Solution: Nxe4 → Qe1 → Nxg3+ → Qxg3 → e4
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White to move · rating 1658 · solved 3,447 times
· Mate in 3. It ends in checkmate on g6 with the knight.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: gxh6
Solution: Qg6+ → Ng7 → Qf7+ → Kh8 → Ng6#
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Black to move · rating 2051 · solved 799 times
· 4 solver moves to find. It gives up the rook (Rxf3) and the queen (Qxf3) on the way. The solver captures 4 pieces (pawn, rook, rook, queen).Reveal line
Black to move · rating 2114 · solved 792 times
· 3 solver moves to find. The solver captures 2 pieces (bishop, queen).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qe2
Solution: Nd4 → Qxe5 → Nxf3+ → Ke2 → Nxe5
Positions and move sequences come from real rated games (CC0 data). Engine evaluations, where shown, are stored evaluations of the position (CC0).
Background reading
Fork (chess)
In chess, a fork is a tactic in which a piece attacks multiple enemy pieces simultaneously. The attacker usually aims to capture one of the forked pieces. The defender often cannot counter every threat. A fork is most effective when it is forcing, such as when the king is put in check. A fork is a type of double attack.
Terminology
A fork is an example of a double attack. The type of fork is named after the type of forking piece. For example, a fork by a knight is a knight fork. The attacked pieces are forked. If the king is one of the attacked pieces, the term absolute fork is sometimes used, while a fork not involving the enemy king is a relative fork. A fork of the king and queen, the highest material-gaining fork possible, is sometimes called a royal fork. A fork of the enemy king, queen, and one (or both) rooks is sometimes called a grand fork. A knight fork of the enemy king, queen, and possibly other pieces is sometimes called a family fork or family check.
Strategy
While any piece can deliver a fork, knights are particularly effective as the forking piece because they cannot be captured by the non-knight pieces they attack, and as a minor piece they are less valuable than rooks and queens. Compared to forks by other pieces, a queen fork requires more specific conditions to be helpful due to the queen's higher value. A queen fork can often lead to material or positional gain, however, when the forked pieces are undefended, poorly coordinated, or when one piece is the king.
Game examples
This example is from the first round of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004 between Mohamed Tissir and Alexey Dreev. After: 33... Nf2+ 34. Kg1 Nd3 White resigned. In the final position the black knight forks White's queen and rook; after the queen moves away, Black will win the exchange. This example is from the ninth round of the Clarin GP Final between Guillermo Soppe and Fernando Braga. After: 40... Qh1+ White resigned. The only move is 41.Ke2 which enables a royal fork with 41...Nc3+, winning the queen. In the Two Knights Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6) after 4.Nc3, Black can eliminate White's e4-pawn immediately with :4... Nxe4! due to the fork trick :5. Nxe4 d5 regaining either the bishop or the knight.
Where this page comes from
The text above is adapted from
“Fork (chess)” on Wikipedia,
by its contributors. We removed reference markers, infoboxes, templates and embedded
media, and kept the prose sections otherwise intact — nothing here was written or
rewritten by AI.
The original is published under
CC BY-SA 4.0,
so this section is published under the same licence. You may share and
adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same
licence.
Puzzle positions, ratings and move sequences on this page come from real rated games (CC0 data), not from Wikipedia; theme write-ups and difficulty guides
elsewhere on this site are Chess Puzzle Print's own original work and are not covered by
this licence.
ChessPuzzlePrint