Fedoseev's Knight Offer and the Fork That Beat Keymer

Photo: Frans Peeters / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Look at the white knight on c4. It is attacking two black pieces at once: the queen on b6 and the bishop on a5. That is a fork, and it was the point of a knight offer White had made three moves earlier.

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Position after 20.Nc4, with Black to move. The knight on c4 attacks the queen on b6 and the bishop on a5 at the same time.

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Vladimir Fedoseev won this game with White against Vincent Keymer, who was the top-rated player in the tournament.

Vladimir Fedoseev 1-0 Vincent Keymer Tata Steel Chess Masters 2026, Wijk aan Zee · Round 2 White: Vladimir Fedoseev (2705) · Black: Vincent Keymer (2776)

The opening

The game began as a Nimzo-Indian Defence, where Black pins the knight on c3 with the bishop on b4.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 O-O 5.Nf3 c5 6.dxc5 Na6 7.g3 Nxc5 8.Bg2 Nce4 9.Bd2 Nxd2 10.Nxd2 a6 11.O-O Rb8 12.Nde4 Ne8 13.c5 Qc7 14.Rac1 f5 15.Qb3 Ba5 16.Nd2

Our own Stockfish 16 run, at depth 18, gave White a little over half a pawn here. White's pawn on c5 pressed on Black's queenside, and Black looked to challenge it with a pawn move. The engine's choice was 16...b5.

16...b6

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Position after 16...b6, with White to move. Black's queen is on c7, and the square d5 is guarded only by the pawn on e6.

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After this move, the engine rated White about one and a half pawns better. The reason is a surprising knight jump.

The knight offer

17.Nd5

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Position after 17.Nd5, with Black to move. The knight attacks the queen on c7. Black can take it with the e6 pawn.

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The knight attacks the black queen, and Black can simply take it. But look what happens next.

17...exd5 18.Qxd5+ Rf7

With the e6 pawn gone, the white queen took on d5 with check along the diagonal to g8. Black blocked with the rook. White was a knight down for a pawn, for now.

19.cxb6 Qxb6 20.Nc4

Now the knight jumped to c4 and forked the queen on b6 and the bishop on a5. This is the position at the top of the article.

20...Bb7 21.Nxb6 Bxd5 22.Nxd5

Black found a clever answer. The bishop came to b7 and attacked the white queen. White took the black queen, Black took the white queen, and White took back on d5. In the end the queens were traded, and the material was level again.

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Position after 22...Rxb2, with White to move. Material is level. White's knight stands in the centre on d5, and Black's pawn on d7 has no pawn beside it.

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So was the knight offer worth it? Our engine still rated White more than a pawn better. White's knight sat in the middle of the board, White's pieces were more active, and Black's pawn on d7 was weak.

Converting the endgame

23.Rc5 Rb5 24.Rfc1 Nd6 25.e3 Bd8 26.Rxb5 axb5 27.Bf1 g5 28.Rc5 b4 29.Bc4 Kg7 30.Bb3 Rf8 31.Nxb4

White won the b4 pawn. Now White was a pawn up, with a passed pawn on the a-file, a pawn with no black pawn left to stop it.

31...f4 32.Rd5 Be7 33.exf4 gxf4 34.Rd4 fxg3 35.hxg3 h5 36.Nd3 Kh6 37.Ne5 h4 38.g4 Kg5 39.Rd5 Kh6 40.Nd3 h3 41.f4 Kg7 42.Kh2 Rh8 43.Ne5 Rh4 44.Rd3

Keymer had less than two minutes left for several moves before the time control at move 40. By move 44 our engine rated White more than four pawns better, and Keymer resigned.

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Final position, after 44.Rd3. White's knight attacks the weak pawn on d7, and the rook is ready to win the pawn on h3. Black resigned.

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What this game teaches

1. A piece offer can be a way to win material back later. 17.Nd5 gave up a knight, but three moves later 20.Nc4 forked the queen and bishop, and the material came back.

2. Look for forks. A knight attacking two pieces at once is one of the most common tactics in chess. Check every knight jump near the enemy queen.

3. Level material is not the same as a level game. After the queens came off, material was equal, but White's pieces were better placed.

4. Weak pawns lose endgames. Black's pawn on d7 had no pawn beside it to protect it, and White's pieces kept attacking it.

5. A strong opponent can still be beaten. Keymer was the top seed. Fedoseev won by finding one sharp idea and then playing a long, clean endgame.