Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening372
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame1,739
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame889
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame45
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame8
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame4
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame6
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame8
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook9
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingDiẹ »
Motifs
Advanced pawn83
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f713
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender42
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack236
Moving a piece (such as a knight), that previously blocked an attack by a long range piece (such as a rook), out of the way of that piece.
Double check5
Checking with two pieces at once, as a result of a discovered attack where both the moving piece and the unveiled piece attack the opponent's king.
Exposed king56
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork705
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece184
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack148
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin199
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack25
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice114
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer94
A motif involving a high value piece being attacked, moving out the way, and allowing a lower value piece behind it to be captured or attacked, the inverse of a pin.
Trapped piece82
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction73
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance30
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move116
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection117
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference17
Moving a piece between two opponent pieces to leave one or both opponent pieces undefended, such as a knight on a defended square between two rooks.
Intermezzo87
Instead of playing the expected move, first interpose another move posing an immediate threat that the opponent must answer. Also known as "Zwischenzug" or "In between".
Quiet move73
A move that does neither make a check or capture, nor an immediate threat to capture, but does prepare a more hidden unavoidable threat for a later move.
X-Ray attack9
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang1
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate180
Win the game with style.Mate in 10
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2138
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 335
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 47
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more0
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate2
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate0
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate40
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate0
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate1
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate0
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate1
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Smothered mate2
A checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because it is surrounded (or smothered) by its own pieces.Special moves
Castling4
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant4
A tactic involving the en passant rule, where a pawn can capture an opponent pawn that has bypassed it using its initial two-square move.
Promotion44
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion2
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality347
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,533
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing940
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate180
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle0
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,261
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle555
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle184
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games18
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games0
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games0
Puzzles from games played by the best players in the world.
Player games
Lookup puzzles generated from your games, or from another player's games.These puzzles are in the public domain, and can be downloaded from database.lichess.org.