Explanation

A double attack is a tactical motif that creates two threats at the same time, including forks, discovered attacks, and discovered checks. Often, a double attack wins immediately, but sometimes a defense is possible. The following diagram illustrates the most common defensive options:

Black has just played a queen fork with Qa5, attacking the unprotected knight on b5 and the rook on e1. White has the following options to defend against this double attack:

• Run away with the attacked rook and protect the knight with 1.Re5.
• Run away with the attacked knight and block the attack on the rook with 1.Nc3.
• Protect both pieces with 1.Qe2. (Think of this as a defensive queen fork, protecting two pieces at the same time.)
• Run away with the knight and give a check: 1.Nxc7+. This will gain time to deal with the rook attack on the next move.
• Counterattack with 1.Nd6; for example, 1...Qxe1 2.Nxf7 Qxg1 3.Nxd8.
• Or, as the best move, pin the queen with 1.Ra3!

In this level, you will practice handling double attacks using all defensive options except counterattacks and checks, which have separate levels.

Examples

The white queen is forking Black’s unprotected knight and rook. Black can defend by running away with the knight and protecting the rook: 1...Ne7.
The counterattack 1...Qxg3? doesn’t work, because 2.Qxc8+ comes with check.

White has just played Bc1-h6, attacking the rook and with a discovered attack by White’s rook on the bishop on a1. Black can defend with 1...Bg7, running away with the attacked bishop and blocking the attack on the rook.

White is forking the two black bishops with the queen. Black can defend both with 1...Qb7. You can think of this as a defensive queen fork; the queen protects two pieces at once.

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