Queen Fork-o-Rama

Aloha!  It's time to practice some forks.  And you get to use your special lady, the Queen!  Everyone's favourite piece.  She can move in 8 different directions so she's very good at attacking more than one thing at a time.  If you only attack one piece, it'll just run away.  But attack two and you're likely to win one.  They can't both run away at the same time!

Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl) is going to give you a few puzzles to solve.  The first one will be easy.  But they will get harder!

In each puzzle, 

1.  Look for a hanging piece, and

2.  Look for checks.

Except for the first one, each puzzle will be a combination.  So, here's a hint:  you can sacrifice stuff!

I will do one for you.  This is an example of a combo:

 

 

First I noticed that the rook was hanging on c8.  If I just put the queen on g4 right away, she goes bye-bye.  So I had to eat the knight first, which also blows open the castle.  Then I can attack the king AND the rook!   Bad news bears!

 

What if it were black's turn?  Do you see an easy fork in one move?

 

 

Here are three more puzzles for you to try.  White to move.

 

Black to move.  What about the rook on a1?

White to move.  This one is tricky.  The first move is a check to get the queen in position to attack two hanging pieces.

 

Did you get them all?  Nice work!

Remember,

1.  Look for hanging pieces, and 

2.  Look for checks.

The queen wins again!!  My favorite piece!!