Tactics
What is a fork?
A fork attacks two pieces at the same time with one move. Knights are the best forkers because their moves cannot be blocked. Find the fork in each position.
3 interactive positions - drag or click to make your move
White to move
Tactics · What is a fork?
White to move. The knight on d5 can jump to a square that attacks BOTH the black king and the black rook at the same time. Find the fork!
Drag a piece to its destination, or tap/click to select then tap the target square.
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Tactics
What is a pin?
A pin stops a piece from moving because moving it would expose a more valuable piece behind it. An absolute pin involves the king - the pinned piece literally cannot move.
Tactics
What is a skewer?
A skewer is like a reverse pin: the more valuable piece is in front, and moving it away exposes the less valuable piece behind to be captured. Rooks and bishops are the best skewering pieces.
Tactics
Back-rank checkmate
When your king is stuck behind its own pawns with no escape squares, a rook or queen on the back rank delivers checkmate. This is one of the most common ways beginners lose.
Chess Thinking
Don't hang pieces
A 'hanging' piece is undefended and can be captured for free. Spotting your own hanging pieces before moving - and your opponent's - is the single fastest way to stop losing material.
Practise on your real games
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