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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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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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.