Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening302,227
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,703,768
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,888,739
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame305,320
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame77,729
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame205,743
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame47,175
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame65,373
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook42,608
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense192,333
French Defense81,247
Queen's Pawn Game73,617
Italian Game70,541
Caro-Kann Defense67,411
Scandinavian Defense52,994
Queen's Gambit Declined46,710
English Opening39,220
Ruy Lopez38,189
Scotch Game34,901
Indian Defense33,935
Philidor Defense23,884
Motifs
Advanced pawn354,373
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f741,653
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender41,244
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack306,969
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 check30,090
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 king173,008
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork781,205
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece234,943
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack496,323
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin358,565
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack85,720
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice428,850
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer131,803
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 piece70,396
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction207,966
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance76,492
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move353,353
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection252,967
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference21,931
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.
Intermezzo74,372
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 move240,654
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 attack20,451
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang58,342
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,748,561
Win the game with style.Mate in 1795,482
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2740,548
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3180,401
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 426,442
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,688
Figure out a long mating sequence.Mate themes
Anastasia's mate6,742
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,678
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate189,585
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Balestra mate1,368
A bishop delivers the checkmate, while a queen blocks the remaining escape squares
Blind Swine mate6,361
Two rooks team up to mate the king in an area of 2 by 2 squares.
Boden's mate3,321
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Corner mate10,800
Confine the king to the corner using a rook or queen and a knight to engage the checkmate.
Double bishop mate3,240
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,651
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate9,584
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Kill box mate5,520
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".
Triangle mate7,854
The queen and rook, one square away from the enemy king, are on the same rank or file, separated by one square, forming a triangle.
Vukovic mate2,487
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 mate21,603
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
Castling2,535
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant8,290
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.
Promotion137,529
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,078
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,026
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,767,964
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,284,060
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,748,561
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle842,739
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle3,029,396
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,497,024
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle474,455
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games786,961
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games74,912
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,144
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.