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Chess Tactical Motifs - The Fork

The first motif we'll take a look at is the fork. A fork occurs when one piece attacks two or more pieces at the same time.

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White to move.

Check out the example to the right. It's white's move. Here, he can play the crushing fork 1. Rd7+. The rook attacks the black King and the undefended Bishop at the same time! Black must move his King away, after which white captures the Bishop.

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White to move.

Any piece (including the King and Pawns) can create a fork. In the diagram to the right, it's White's move. Do you see the fork?

The pawn thrust 1. d4 does the trick by forking black's Rook and Knight. After he moves one of the pieces, the white Pawn will capture the other.

Knight forks are especially tricky. We'll consider those in a moment. For now, we'll just look the other pieces. The next page presents some problems to work through.


Back - Next
Chess Tactics - Table of Contents
Introduction - What Are Tactics?
Piece Safety - Exercises (1) - Exercises (2)
Counting - Exercises (1) - Exercises (2)
Tactical Motifs Introduction
The Fork - Exercises
The Knight Fork - Exercises
The Pin - Exercises
The Skewer - Exercises
The Discovered Attack - Exercises
Removal of the Guard - Exercises
Back Rank Checkmates - Exercises (1) - Exercises (2)
Conclusion