In
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
, a fork is a
tactic
Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to:
* Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks
** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield
** Chess tactics
** Political tacti ...
in which a piece 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 .
Terminology
A fork is an example of a . 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. A fork not involving the enemy king is in contrast 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
Any piece can deliver a fork. Forks are most often delivered by knights: a knight is not attacked by a piece it attacks except for an enemy knight, and it can be exchanged for a more valuable piece.
Since the queen is usually more valuable than the pieces it attacks, a queen fork gains material only when the pieces attacked are undefended or if one of them is the king and the other is undefended.
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.
References
Further reading
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{{chess
Chess tactics
Chess terminology