The Knight Fork is one of the most devastating attacks in the game of Chess. Getting two pieces forked by a Knight has been responsible for more victories than running Stockfish on a separate device next to your Chess.com game. The double attack is where the power of the Knight really stands out.
This page is a compliment to the main guide on Forks in Chess, where we explain how every piece on the board can create a fork. This page focuses solely on the Knight fork which is one of the more powerful pieces for forking opponents pieces because of the unique way in which the Knight moves.
Knight Fork Examples
Example #1
Example #2
The primary reason why Knights are so powerful in attacking is because it can attack other pieces without being attacked in return. If a Knight moves to attack the most mobile piece in Chess, the Queen, the Queen cannot capture the Knight. The Knight attacks pieces while also not being attacked by that piece.
The position below shows how the Knight can move to multiple different squares while also not be attacked by a Queen.
Example #3
In this position, the Knight is able to check the King on e7 and f6. This means that Black’s Queen can’t be placed on all the indicated squares, because it can immediately be captured or the resulting Knight fork will assure that Black loses his Queen. The same is true for a Rook or an unprotected Bishop.
Now that we have gone through a few examples of how to fork with Knights, this seems to be a good point in the lesson to go for some Knight Fork puzzles.
Knight Fork Puzzles
As we have seen in our lesson about the fork any piece can create a fork, even a pawn or a King. However the most common fork is the Knight fork. The way the Knight moves makes it more likely that the threat is overlooked.
I created some Knight Fork exercises below, they aren’t the most complicated but they are good for beginners to try.
If you’re a beginner, re-read the guide above and then try.
Puzzle #1
Fork Double Attack Puzzles
Puzzle #2
I hope this guide on the Knight Fork in Chess helped you. If you liked this article, you may be interested in other guides on how to fork with other pieces like the Pawn Fork and the Bishop Fork.