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In chess
Chess

Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two Player . Sometimes called Western chess or international chess to distinguish it from History of chess and other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older...
, a fork is a tactic
Chess tactic

In chess, a tactic refers to a short sequence of moves which limits the opponent's options and may result in tangible gain. Tactics are usually contrasted to Chess strategy, in which advantages take longer to be realized, and the opponent is less constrained in responding....
 that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces at the same time, hoping to achieve material gain (by capturing one of the opponent's pieces) because the opponent can only counter one of the two (or more) threats. The piece moving to make the multiple attack on the opponent's pieces is the forking piece. The opponent's pieces which are attacked by the forking piece are ones which are forked.

The type of fork is commonly named after the type of forking piece.






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In chess
Chess

Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two Player . Sometimes called Western chess or international chess to distinguish it from History of chess and other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older...
, a fork is a tactic
Chess tactic

In chess, a tactic refers to a short sequence of moves which limits the opponent's options and may result in tangible gain. Tactics are usually contrasted to Chess strategy, in which advantages take longer to be realized, and the opponent is less constrained in responding....
 that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces at the same time, hoping to achieve material gain (by capturing one of the opponent's pieces) because the opponent can only counter one of the two (or more) threats. The piece moving to make the multiple attack on the opponent's pieces is the forking piece. The opponent's pieces which are attacked by the forking piece are ones which are forked.

The type of fork is commonly named after the type of forking piece. For example, in a knight fork, a knight moves to attack two or more opponent's pieces in the same move. Any type of piece may perform a fork, including a king
King (chess)

In chess, the King is the most important chess piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that he would not be able to avoid capture ....
, and any type of piece can be forked.

Knights are often used for forks; they jump to a position where they simultaneously attack two pieces and cannot be counterattacked.

A queen move also often attacks two pieces at the same time, but this typically gains material only if both pieces are undefended, or if one is undefended and the other is the opposing king. Since the queen is usually more valuable than the pieces it is attacking, it usually only gains material capturing undefended pieces. However, the possibility of a queen fork is a very real threat when the queen is out in the open, as is often the case in an endgame. A fork by a protected queen of the opposing queen and king (or an undefended piece) can be useful if the forking player wants to force an exchange of queens.

Pawns
Pawn (chess)

The pawn is the weakest and most numerous chess piece in the game of chess, representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen....
 can also fork enemy pieces: by moving a pawn forward, it may attack two pieces: one diagonally to the left and the other diagonally to the right. In the diagram, the white pawn is forking the two black rooks.

The term royal fork is sometimes used to describe the situation where the king and queen are forked, and thus being the highest material gaining fork possible.

The following example of a fork is from the first round of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004
FIDE World Chess Championship 2004

The FIDE World Chess Championship, 2004 was held at the Almahary Hotel in Tripoli, Libya, from June 18 to July 13.It was won by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, who beat Michael Adams in the final by a score of 4.5-3.5....
 between Mohamed Tissir and Alexey Dreev
Alexey Dreev

Alexey Dreev is a chess International Grandmaster from Russia. His career peak Elo rating system rating was 2705, attained in October 2003 and again in April 2005....
.

After 33...Nf2+ 34.Kg1 34...Nd3, White resigned. In the final position the black knight is forking the white queen and rook, so that after the queen moves away, white will lose the exchange
The exchange (chess)

The exchange in chess refers to a situation in which one player loses a chess terminology#Minor piece but captures the opponent's Rook . The side which wins the rook is said to have won the exchange, while the other player has lost the exchange, since the rook is usually Chess piece relative value....
.

Forks are often used as part of a combination
Combination (chess)

In chess, a combination is a sequence of moves, often initiated by a sacrifice, which leaves the opponent few options and results in tangible gain....
 which may involve other types of chess tactics as well.

External links

  • - Collection of chess problems involving forks