Tactical motifsStep 1 of 7
The fork
One piece, two targets — and the knight that hits both from a square nothing defends.
One piece, two targets. Your opponent can only save one.
The knight is the king of forks, for a precise reason: it attacks squares no other piece can defend from where it stands. A rook attacked by a rook can be protected; a rook attacked by a knight has to run.
The most profitable fork is called the family fork: the knight attacks the king and a heavy piece at the same time. The king must answer the check — he has no choice — and the piece falls next move.
Demonstration — use the arrows
Move list
How to spot them: look for squares from which a knight would touch two enemy pieces. With practice you see them before calculating. And above all — look for the squares where your opponent could do the same to you. A king and a queen on the same colour, a knight’s jump apart, is a fork waiting to happen.
You can practise it in the knight fork exercise.
Your turn
Your turn
White to move
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