Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening290,947
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,585,016
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,732,099
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame287,927
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame73,184
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame192,669
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame44,603
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame61,272
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook40,245
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense185,665
French Defense78,139
Queen's Pawn Game70,557
Italian Game67,870
Caro-Kann Defense64,232
Scandinavian Defense50,510
Queen's Gambit Declined45,090
English Opening37,746
Ruy Lopez37,023
Scotch Game33,485
Indian Defense32,702
Philidor Defense23,141
Motifs
Advanced pawn334,874
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f739,260
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender39,983
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack294,721
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 check28,440
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 king163,473
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork748,991
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece225,421
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack469,136
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin342,939
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack80,959
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice406,573
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer125,392
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 piece68,459
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction197,221
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance73,078
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move336,654
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection240,345
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference21,014
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.
Intermezzo71,535
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 move228,244
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 attack19,424
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang54,725
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,638,915
Win the game with style.Mate in 1738,675
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2699,595
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3170,376
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 424,888
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,381
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate6,351
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,238
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate179,807
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate3,064
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate3,017
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,405
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate9,025
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Kill box mate3,671
A rook is next to the enemy king and supported by a queen that also blocks the king's escape squares. The rook and the queen catch the enemy king in a 3 by 3 "kill box".
Vukovic mate1,803
A rook and knight team up to mate the king. The rook delivers mate while supported by a third piece, and the knight is used to block the king's escape squares.
Smothered mate20,177
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
Castling2,476
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant7,916
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.
Promotion129,772
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,027
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,023
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,688,778
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,194,315
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,638,915
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle785,934
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,906,517
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,421,041
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle451,542
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games757,030
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games73,456
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,099
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.