Tactical Play in Chess

Tactics, the heart of chess, are based on the way the pieces move. The most common tactical themes -- the fork, the pin, discovered attack, discovered check, and the xray -- are all based on the double attack.

The examples in this tutorial are from Emanuel Lasker's Manual of Chess. Lasker was World Champion from 1894 to 1921.

See the diagram below. White plays 1.Qb8+. Black responds 1... Kg7 or Kh7. White continues 2.Qa7+, checking the King and attacking the Rook at the same time. We say that the Queen forks the King and the Rook. After White wins the Rook, the rest is easy.

All of the pieces are able to fork the opponent's pieces. A Knight forking the opponent's King, Queen, and a Rook or two is known as a family fork.