A fork in chess is a single move that attacks two or more of your opponent's pieces at the same time. Your opponent can only answer one threat per move, so they usually lose the other piece. Any piece can fork, but knights and queens do it most often, and the strongest forks include a check, because the opponent must deal with the king first.
A knight fork, step by step
This is the pattern to learn first. White's knight jumps to e7 with check, attacking the king on g8 and the queen on c8 at the same time.
2q3k1/5ppp/8/3N4/8/8/5PPP/6K1 w - - 0 1
Open this position in the analysis board →
After 1.Ne7+, Black has exactly two legal moves, Kf8 and Kh8. Both are king moves, because a knight check cannot be blocked. Either way, 2.Nxc8 wins the queen. Press White to move in the analysis board and Stockfish finds Ne7+ immediately.
A knight fork that includes the king is called a royal fork when it hits king and queen. When it hits the king and both rooks, or king, queen and rook, players call it a family fork.
Which piece forks most often?
We checked all 119 fork puzzles in our trainer, which come from the Lichess puzzle database. For each one we found the first move in the solution that attacks two or more of the opponent's pieces, then recorded which piece made it.
| Forking piece | Puzzles | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Knight | 47 | 39% |
| Queen | 43 | 36% |
| Rook | 17 | 14% |
| Bishop | 9 | 8% |
| Pawn | 3 | 3% |
Method: we replayed each puzzle with the chess.js move generator and counted pieces other than pawns as targets, kings included. It is a sample of 119 puzzles, not every game ever played, but the lesson is clear: look for knight and queen forks first.
Knights fork so often because their L-shaped jump attacks squares that line pieces cannot cover, and a knight check can never be blocked. Queens fork often because they attack in eight directions at once.
The queen fork: a trap that catches beginners
Queen forks often appear as a double attack on a loose piece and a weak square. In this opening trap, Black's queen on g5 attacks White's knight on e5 and the pawn on g2 at the same time.
Start
White grabbed a pawn with 4.Nxe5, and 4...Qg5 punished it by attacking two things. White kept going with 5.Nxf7, but the g2 pawn fell and Black finished with a smothered-style checkmate on f3. The best reply to 4...Qg5, according to Stockfish 17.1 at depth 20, is 5.O-O: castling puts the king on g1, where it guards g2, and the knight can then retreat. Even then Black is slightly better (about −0.5), which shows how strong the double attack was.
The pawn fork: the "fork trick"
Pawns fork rarely, but when they do, the attacked pieces are almost always worth more than the pawn. In this well-known opening line, Black gives up a knight and gets it straight back with a pawn fork.
r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n5/3pp3/2B1N3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 0 6
Open the fork-trick position →
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5, the pawn on d5 attacks both the bishop on c4 and the knight on e4. White cannot save both, and Black wins the piece back with an equal game.
When a fork does not work
A fork fails when the forking square is defended. Here the position is the same as the first example, but Black has a bishop on f8.
2q2bk1/5ppp/8/3N4/8/8/5PPP/6K1 w - - 0 1
Open the defended-square position →
Now 1.Ne7+ simply loses the knight to 1...Bxe7. Before you fork, always ask: can the forking piece be captured on that square?
How to spot a fork in your games
Run this check every time your opponent has two pieces that are loose (undefended) or more valuable than your attacker:
- Find the targets. Look for the king, the queen, and undefended pieces.
- Find a square that hits two of them. For knights, picture the L-shapes around each target and see where they overlap.
- Check that square's safety. Is it defended by a pawn or piece that can capture your attacker?
- Prefer checks. A fork with check removes your opponent's chance to save the other piece with a counter-threat.
And the defensive version: when your king and queen sit a knight's jump apart from a common square, or two pieces are both loose, fix it before your opponent finds the fork.
Practice: Fork
All 119 fork puzzles →Frequently asked questions
What is the best piece for a fork?
The knight. It is the most common forking piece in our puzzle sample, its checks cannot be blocked, and it is cheap, so the forked pieces are almost always worth more.
How do you defend against a fork?
Move one target with a threat of your own, such as a check or an attack on a bigger piece, so you gain time to save the other. If that is impossible, save the more valuable piece and accept losing the smaller one.
What is the difference between a fork and a skewer?
A fork attacks two pieces in different directions from one square. A skewer attacks two pieces on the same line, where the front piece must move and exposes the one behind it. See the chess pieces guide for how each piece attacks.
What is a royal fork?
A knight fork that attacks the king and queen at the same time. Because it is check, the king must move, and the queen is lost.
Ready for mixed practice? The fork puzzles page has all 119 fork puzzles, from beginner to advanced, and the analysis board lets you test any fork you find in your own games.