Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening298,656
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,665,314
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,838,565
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame299,560
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame76,255
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame201,556
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame46,285
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame64,058
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook41,827
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense190,087
French Defense80,241
Queen's Pawn Game72,620
Italian Game69,670
Caro-Kann Defense66,326
Scandinavian Defense52,183
Queen's Gambit Declined46,164
English Opening38,744
Ruy Lopez37,794
Scotch Game34,424
Indian Defense33,525
Philidor Defense23,625
Motifs
Advanced pawn347,993
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f740,873
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender40,856
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack303,003
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 check29,500
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 king169,830
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork770,755
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece231,760
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack487,113
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin353,356
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack84,160
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice421,366
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer129,679
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 piece69,741
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction204,415
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance75,368
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move347,972
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection248,723
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference21,633
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.
Intermezzo73,404
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 move236,546
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 attack20,100
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang57,166
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,711,420
Win the game with style.Mate in 1776,286
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2726,663
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3177,015
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 425,874
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,582
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate6,618
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,532
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate186,213
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate3,235
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate3,167
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,557
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate9,387
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 mate1,804
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 mate21,121
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
Castling2,515
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant8,157
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.
Promotion135,042
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,063
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,024
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,742,406
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,254,425
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,711,420
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle823,543
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,988,492
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,472,190
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle467,053
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games777,084
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games74,483
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,127
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.