Royal fork
A royal fork is a fork that attacks the enemy king and queen at the same time, most often with a knight, so the king must move and the queen is lost.
Also called: queen and king fork, family fork
The word royal describes the targets. A royal fork hits the king and the queen together. Because the king is attacked, the opponent has to respond to the check right away, and no other move is allowed. The queen is then captured on the next turn, and it is often defended only by the king or not at all.
A knight is the usual forking piece, because a knight check cannot be blocked and a knight can land on a square from which it hits both targets while neither of them can take it. A pawn can also do it, and a queen or bishop can as well when the lines line up. The same idea works with a rook instead of the queen, but then it is simply a fork with check.
To find royal forks, look at every checking move you have. For each one, ask what else the checking piece would attack from its new square. A queen that stands a knight's move away from a square that also checks the king is the usual warning sign.
To defend, avoid placing your king and queen where one forking square attacks both, and look for those squares before your opponent does. In the diagram White plays Ne7+. The knight checks the king on g8 and attacks the queen on c6. The king moves, and White takes the queen with Nxc6.
Also worth reading is Fork. A fork is a move that leaves one of your pieces threatening two enemy pieces together.
A neighboring idea is Pawn fork. A pawn fork is a pawn move that attacks two enemy pieces at once, one on each of the two diagonal squares ahead of the pawn, so only one of them can escape.
Compare it with Scholar's mate. Scholar's mate is a four-move checkmate on f7: White's queen and bishop both aim at that square, where only the king defends, and Qxf7 ends the game when Black overlooks it.
To see how often "Royal fork" or a pattern like it decides your own games, book a first lesson: George Li reviews your games and writes a study plan around what he finds.
Related terms
A fork is a move that leaves one of your pieces threatening two enemy pieces together. Because the opponent gets only one turn to respond, something usually falls.
A knight fork is a move that places a knight on a square from which it attacks two or more enemy pieces at once, so the opponent cannot save them all.
A pawn fork is a pawn move that attacks two enemy pieces at once, one on each of the two diagonal squares ahead of the pawn, so only one of them can escape.
A double attack is one move that creates two threats at once, whether they come from a single piece or from two, and whether they aim at pieces or at checkmate.
Guides that go further
What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.
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