Chess strategy is generally categorized into positional and tactical play. Positional play is slow. It involves putting pieces onto good squares, restricting enemy movement, and exploiting weaknesses in the enemy position. Tactical play is quick and sharp. It typically involves creating threats that the opponent is unable to prevent.
One of the most common tactics in chess is the center fork trick. In the pictured position, it occurs when Black takes the pawn on e4 with their f6 knight. This looks like a mistake, as White can recapture with their knight on c3. However, Black strikes back by moving their pawn to d5, attacking both White’s knight on e4 and bishop on c4. White can’t save and move both of these pieces out of the way at once, so they’re forced to allow Black to capture at least one of them. Black gets a free piece, but since they had to lose a knight to reach this position, they don’t actually end up having more pieces than White afterwards.
In this position, the center fork trick results in an equal position. This doesn’t sound very appealing, but actually it’s a very good thing. Since White always goes first, they start out with an advantage, so equalizing is an improvement for Black.
The center fork trick shows that tactics are possible from more positions than one might think. Keep a careful eye out!