Chapter 26

The fork

The fork is a lifelong monument to the most striking and interesting chess piece, the knight. The fork in chess is a situation where two or more enemy pieces are attacked simultaneously by a single piece. The most effective fork is where one of the attacked units is the king (via check), or when the attacked pieces are more valuable than the attacking piece. The most common fork in modern chess is probably where both rooks are attacked by a knight and the exchange is lost. The ability of other pieces to attack two enemy units at once is dealt with in the next chapter under ‘The double attack’.

149 *

Jonny Hector

2575

Boris Grachev

2682

Germany Bundesliga 2011/12 (8)

In this position, Black was happy to draw, and played his last move 34…♖e7-e6 carelessly. But instead of repeating moves by 35.♖d7+ ♖e7, there followed…

35.♖xc6!

and Black resigned.

Even in apparently simple positions, one must never relax one’s concentration!

150 *

Levan Pantsulaia

2461

Mladen Palac

2561

Greece tt 2003 (2)

28.♕xd6! f5

After 28…♖xd6 29.♘xd6 ♕c6 30.♘xc8 ♕xc8 31.♖d8+, Black loses all his pieces.

29.♘c3!

This move does not leave Black any hope of resistance.

29…♕xb3

29…♖xc3 30.♕xe6+ ♔h7 31.♖d5 ♕e8 32.♕xf5++–.

30.♕e5 ♖xc3 31.♖d7

Black resigned.

151 *

B Belov

A Dimitrova

Moscow 2012

Black’s pieces are well centralised. Her ♘d5 is especially well placed, taking numerous squares from the white queen. In fact, it is so well placed that it turns out that Black can immediately win:

41…♖xa2+ 42.♔xa2 ♘b4+

And White loses his queen, wherever his king goes.

152 **

Evgeny Bareev

2707

Peter Leko

2713

Wijk aan Zee 2002 (5)

The knight is an agile piece, and the X-ray on the long diagonal allows a tactical idea that was seen in the game:

28.♖xc8 ♖xc8 29.♘c6!

Black must lose the exchange, after which the realisation is a simple matter of technique.

29…♗xb2 30.♘e7+ ♔g7 31.♘xc8 ♕f5 32.♘d6 ♕f3+ 33.♔g1 ♗e5 34.♕c2

An even simpler win was 34.♕b3 ♘h5 35.♕d5 ♗xg3 36.♕xf7+ ♕xf7 37.♘xf7+–.

34…h5 35.h4 ♕g4 36.♔g2

Repeating moves to save time before the time-control, a typical device that is useful to employ sometimes.

36…♕f3+ 37.♔g1 ♕g4

Nor are there any chances from 37…♗xg3 38.fxg3 ♕xg3+ 39.♕g2 ♕xe3+ 40.♕f2+–.

38.♕b3 ♗xg3 39.♕xf7+ ♔h6 40.♕f8+ ♔h7 41.♕e7+

Black resigned.

153 **

Viktor Kortchnoi

2623

Ilya Smirin

2650

Odessa rapid 2007 (9)

The knight is an agile piece, as one must always remember. Having forgotten that here, after…

25.♘c1!

Black resigned, because of 25…♖xe1 26.♘xd3.

154 ***

Jaan Ehlvest

2635

Lembit Oll

2625

Talinn rapid 1997 (9)

White has just taken the g7-pawn, counting on…

26…♔xg7

(in the game, Black trusted his opponent, and after 26…♗xg2 27.♔xg2 ♔xg7 28.♖e7+ ♔f8 29.♖e6 ♔f7 30.♖c6, found himself in an unpleasant position, which he gradually lost)

27.♖e7+ ♔h8 28.♖e6,

regaining the piece, having improved the activity of the white pieces. However, he had overlooked the counterblow

28…b4! 29.axb4 ♘d5 30.♖xc6 ♘xb4

Never underestimate the agility of a knight! Black wins a piece, with excellent winning chances.